To many people and nations this is frightening -- for example, in China, certain U.S. sites are blocked. Why? Freedom of thought.
It is a scary idea to people in power that the masses might just have differing views from their own. Here in the U.S. the Supreme Court is debating the Communications Decency Act and although it has good intentions behind it, the effect it could have might impact U.S. freedoms much like China blocks American sites.
China blocks any sort of U.S.-based news site as it might "infect" its people with "bad" ideas. In the U.S. the CDA quite possibly would make illegal sites containing AIDS information, sexual education sites and much more. It also uses the legal term "indecent" -- unfortunately this is so vague that many songs you can play on the radio in Chicago would be illegal to put on a Real Audio site for public access.
This clearly relates to the music industry as the CDA might be used to censor music, and lyrics that people in power don't understand. In the past, Bob Dole attacked Trent Reznor for lyrics in a song that Bob Dole had never heard and if the CDA would be passed it would give the government a license to censor free expression. This clearly would be a giant step backwards for the U.S. and the world. So let's hope the CDA fades like a bad one-hit wonder.
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