Communications giants like Google, Comcast, and AT&T enjoy increasingly
unchecked control over speech. As providers of broadband access and
Internet search engines, they can control online expression. Their
online content restrictions--from obstructing e-mail to censoring
cablecasts--are considered legal because of recent changes in free
speech law.
In this book, Dawn Nunziato criticizes recent changes in free speech law
in which only the government need refrain from censoring speech, while
companies are permitted to self-regulate. By enabling Internet providers
to exercise control over content, the Supreme Court and the FCC have
failed to protect the public's right to access a broad diversity of
content. Nunziato argues that regulation is necessary to ensure the free
flow of information and to render the First Amendment meaningful in the
twenty-first century. This book offers an urgent call to action,
recommending immediate steps to preserve our free speech rights online.