Bills on Journalism and Kids' Safety Both Violate the First Amendment
Plus a space podcast, recent events in China, and much more
Legislation: This week, Berin and Ari were joined by several leading Internet law academics in two coalition letters to explain why key provisions of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) violate the First Amendment—and will make the Internet less safe for children and adults. For more, check out Berin’s Lawfare piece and Twitter thread on JCPA, as well as Ari’s Twitter thread and quotes in Broadband Breakfast on KOSA. A third tech bill may be included in must-pass legislation this month: the Open Apps Market Act. Stay tuned for a letter about that Friday morning!
Good Governance: Corbin has two City Journal essays to share this week. The first explores important lessons coming out of China these days. One is that invention and affluence never come about precisely as one would like them to—they can’t be managed from above. The biggest takeaway: state power remains the greatest threat to freedom.
The second, also touching on China, examined social credit in the City Journal autumn print magazine, the digital version of which dropped this week.
Space Law: The best podcast episodes are space episodes. On the latest Tech Policy Podcast, Corbin and Jim discuss the arrival of a second golden age of American space innovation. But who regulates outer space? For better or worse, the FCC is bidding to fill the void, so to speak.
Broadband: In March, we filed comments on how the FCC should interpret a provision of last year's $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill requiring the Commission to issue rules to “facilitate” equal access to broadband, including “preventing digital discrimination.” Those comments were cited multiple times in the FCC’s recently released draft NPRM on the proceeding, set to be approved at the FCC’s December open meeting. Rest assured that we’ll be filing comments early next year in this important proceeding.
Content Moderation: Corbin’s interview for the New York Times continues to make impressions—receiving mentions in Reason and Hot Air. In an interview with the ABA Journal (paywall), Ari discusses why social media platforms aren’t common carriers: “they do not simply transport interchangeable things from point A to point B.”
NEA: Last week, we joined a coalition letter urging Congress to enact National Emergencies Act (NEA) reform during this Congress. Absent reform, presidential abuse of the NEA is a matter of “when” rather than “if”—as the law gives the president nearly unfettered discretion to declare a national emergency.
FCC: In an S&P Global article, Berin discusses the delay in prioritizing a confirmation vote for FCC nominee Gigi Sohn in this year's lame-duck session.
Image via Wikimedia Commons.