New threats to LGBT free speech rights
By SEAN HOWELL & PETER IAN CUMMINGS
Few could argue that the Internet hasn’t revolutionized gay life. A generation came out on the web, with freedom to launch a website based solely on popularity. We both did that, creating the social networks XY and Hornet. (In fact, equal Internet access may be how you found The Blade.)
That open culture could end soon, unless the Federal Trade Commission and Obama administration strongly defend free speech—not just by words, but by actions. Otherwise, independent voices on the Internet could be replaced by corporate websites or wealthy subsidiaries of Comcast, Google, AOL, and Facebook; or silenced altogether.
Absent strong government response, a cocktail of two repressive policy changes could push controversial sites off the Internet. The first is the loss of net neutrality. In January the Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C., in Verizon v. FCC, struck down FCC’s Open Internet Order, which had required Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to carry all traffic, at the same speed, without extra charge to providers. For example, under the stricken rule, Washingtonblade.com streams at the same speed as a mainstream site like AOL’s Huffington Post.
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