The Political Economy of Free Speech and Network Neutrality: A Critical Analysis
![handle is hein.journals/ubjmleth1 and id is 31 raw text is: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FREE SPEECH
AND NETWORK NEUTRALITY:
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
JEFFREY LAYNE BLEVINS AND SARAH C. BARROW
The network neutrality debate has been dominated by neoliberal
economic arguments and technological theories, while comparatively
little attention has been given to normative First Amendment concerns.
We expand upon this important line of inquiry by examining the legal
issues and relevant case law from the critical vantage point of political
economy. Because the medium of communication has determined the
allocation of speech rights between media outlets and users, we posit
that an equal access provision of the Internet would be in accordance
with First Amendment jurisprudence and the participatory democratic
nature of the medium.
Keywords: First Amendment, internet, neoliberalism, network
neutrality, participatory-democracy, political economy
1. INTRODUCTION
In perhaps the first significant challenge to regulate speech on the Internet, a U.S.
federal district court declared in 1996 that the Internet is the most participatory form of
mass speech yet developed, and thus deserves the highest protection from government
intrusion.' That case involved the constitutionality of the 1996 Communications
Decency Act (CDA), which would have made illegal the transmission of obscene and
indecent materials to minors over the Internet. In striking down the CDA, the court took
a firm stand against censorship by the government of an important new medium.
However, what action would the courts take if the Internet's valuable democratic and
participatory nature were threatened by another form of censorship? The Internet
arguably faces such a crisis in the 'network neutrality' debate in the U.S. Congress.
Essentially, 'network neutrality' is the idea that all Internet content, no matter the
type (text, video, audio, etc.) or who created it, should be treated the same in the transfer
process. While there is not a consensus on what network neutrality means,
Jeffrey Layne Blevins, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Greenlee School of
Journalism & Communication at Iowa State University (blevins c'iiastate.edu), where
Sarah C. Barrow, M.S. is a Web editor in the Office of Marketing Communications at
Hamline University (sbarrow0 1@ c'ihamline.edu).
1 ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. 824, 883 (E.D. Pa. 1996) [hereinafter Reno 1].
Journal of Media Law & Ethics, Volume 1, Numbers 1/2 (Winter/Spring 2009) 27](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ubjmleth1&div=6&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Political Economy of Free Speech and Network Neutrality: A Critical Analysis
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