Jeff interviews Bob Corn-Revere, a first amendment lawyer, about the new threats to free speech. Bob says that the Democrats have been even more pro-regulation than the Republicans. The fines have gone way up: 4x the fines this year than in the total of the past ten years. We now have “obscenity light,” a vast expansion of scope and vagueness.

Jeff recounts his investigation of the 129 complaints that caused the FCC to issue it’s largest fine ever, $1.2M. Jeff found that they were written by 23 people and all but 3 were the same.

Bob says that the number of complaints is going up dramatically, but that they are being generated by particular web sites. The number of shows that receive complaints is declining. But Congress seems not to be interested in protecting free speech. So, Jeff asks, if this doesn’t get settled until it gets to the Supreme Court.

Bob: “It’s hard to predict.”

Jeff: Broadcasting now is multi-way. Bob replies that that’s what’s really different now. [Sorry for the crappy summary. It was more nuanced and wide-ranging than this.]

[Can we complain to the FCC that there isn’t enough profanity on TV? After all, Janet Jackson’s nipple slip was the most frequently replayed moment of the Super Bowl among people with TiVos] [Technorati tags: f2c jarvis CornRevere]

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