From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!utah-cs!haas Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Cable TV and the First Amendment Article-I.D.: utah-cs.991 Posted: Wed Sep 22 12:11:11 1982 Received: Thu Sep 23 04:01:48 1982 In the last few months several cities in Utah have decided that they want to censor the programming on cable TV networks. It seems that the city fathers are concerned that the cable TV companies might show R (yes R, not X) rated movies, which might not be suitable for small children. Since these concerned citizens think that certain individuals might buy the cable and then not stop their children from watching these hypothetical movies, laws have been enacted to protect the children by banning from the cable any programming which the city council considers "indecent". Of course the cable TV companies are claiming the protection of the First Amendment, as I think they rightfully should. After all you don't get cable TV in your home unless you order and pay for it. Now a new wrinkle has appeared. The city of Bluffdale, Utah has decided that the cable TV companies will probably win their constitutional case (and I expect that they are correct) so Bluffdale has decided to ban the cable entirely, on the grounds that the city won't be able to control the programming! This is an interesting turn on the traditional issue of technology and society. The nearest thing I can think of that is already in effect is the Soviet practice of controlling all the printing and reproducing equipment in the USSR on the grounds that you might want to xerox something blasphemous to Marxism. So the question is now, does the US Constitution protect your right to the @i[technology] that makes freedom of speech possible? Or can a local government preempt access to that technology? -- Walt Haas ARPAnet: HAAS@UTAH-20 uucp: harpo!utah-cs!haas