It carries an equally momentous
price tag - official censorship. "Voluntary censorship", to be
sure, somewhat toothless standardization and enforcement
authorities, to be sure - still, a censorship with its own
institutions to boot. The private sector reacted by
threatening litigation - but, beneath the surface it is caving
in to pressure and temptation, constructing its own censorship
codes both in the cable and in the internet media.
Institutionalization
This phase is the next in the Internet's history, though, it
seems, unbeknownst to it.
It is characterized by enhanced activities of legislation.
Legislators, on all levels, discover the medium and lurch at
it passionately. Resources which were considered "free",
suddenly are transformed to "national treasures not to be
dispensed with cheaply, casually and with frivolity".
It is conceivable that certain parts of the Internet will be
"nationalized" (for instance, in the form of a licensing
requirement) and tendered to the private sector. Legislation
will be enacted which will deal with permitted and disallowed
content (obscenity? incitement? racial or gender bias?)
No medium in the USA (not to mention the wide world) has
eschewed such legislation.
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