Paradox and Structure: Relying on Government Regulation to Preserve the Internet's Unregulated Character

[David Goldstein <goldstein_david@yahoo.com.au>]

Hi all

A paper below that will probably be of interest to some.

Cheers
David
"Paradox and Structure: Relying on Government Regulation to Preserve
the Internet's Unregulated Character" 
Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 85, P. 215, 2000
BY: THOMAS B. NACHBAR 
Mayer, Brown & Platt
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection: 
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=259951
Contact: THOMAS B. NACHBAR 
Email: Mailto:tom@nachbar.com 
Postal: Mayer, Brown & Platt 
190 S. LaSalle 
Chicago, IL 60603 USA 
Phone: 312-701-8665 
Fax: 312-706-8769
ABSTRACT: 
The Internet's power as a communications medium has been the focus of
a great deal of attention, but the Internet still lacks uniform and
readily understood rules for much of what goes on there. Recently,
there has been a flurry of activity to create such rules, with
particular emphasis on private regulation of activity on the
Internet. In this article, I examine one area of Internet regulation,
the regulation of mature content. After evaluating different methods
for Internet content regulation, I conclude that the most efficient
form of Internet content regulation is ratings-based filtering, with
Internet content providers having the responsibility for applying
ratings to their content. In order to preserve the Internet's value
as a place of free development of both ideas themselves and ideas
about how to share ideas, any such regime must be voluntary. Because
market forces are an inadequate brake on overreaching by private
Internet content regulators - and because private entities are poorly
situated to provide Internet content regulation - the federal
government is the best potential source of Internet content
regulation. The key to efficient and effective government regulation
of mature content on the Internet is the use of power-conferring,
instead of proscriptive, rules. Reliance on federal Internet content
regulation as implemented through power-conferring rules may have the
practical effect of spreading free speech protections across
international borders. Finally, I address the constitutionality of
federal Internet content regulation and conclude that any system of
federal Internet content regulation must be voluntary.
Keywords: Internet, First Amendment

JEL Classification: K00, O33, O38, Z10


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David Goldstein
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email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
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