A company that wants to offer "free" filtered Internet over unused TV spectrum band has hit back at criticism that its service is "free as in beer" but not "free as in speech".
M2Z Networks (M2Z) today announced that in just the past 15 working days over 1,000 individuals from forty-nine states have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) supporting M2Z's pending application.
Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) opposes the application on the grounds that, although M2Z's application could provide significant benefits to the American people, "the proposed license conditions do not adequately ensure that M2Z would operate under open device rules or network neutrality rules of sufficient stringency to confer the full benefits of innovation and free expression to the public."
"We are proposing to deliver a new and innovative service to Americans who all deserve free and family-friendly broadband access," John Muleta, CEO of M2Z Networks. "We've asked the FCC to decide whether such a service is in the public interest"
But it is precisely the "family-friendly" aspect of the network, which involves filtering content deemed inappropriate for children, that is upsetting free speech groups who believe that such a network violates First Amendment rights.
"[b]ecause M2Z explicitly seeks regulation as a common carrier under 47 U.S.C. ยง332, see M2Z Application Appendix 2 at 5, the correct Constitutional framework for First Amendment analysis would appear to be that of common carriers," according to ex parte comments filed by PISC. "The Supreme Court has held that neither Congress nor the Commission may censor speech that is merely indecent made via common carrier to protect minors, despite the ubiquity of telephones. Granting the license subject to a filtering condition therefore raises serious First Amendment concerns as well as statutory concerns."
M2Z requested FCC to offer it the the 2155-2175 MHz spectrum band for a "public service". In exchange M2Z would pay five percent of its revenues to the US Treasury.
PISC appluads M2Z for attempting to provide provide free wireless service on a national basis, but would only support the move if the service guaranteed net neutrality and freedom of expression.
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