Kennard, Kneuer Agree Parents Need Better Content Control Tools

Former Federal Communications Commission chairman and current Barack Obama supporter William Kennard said Tuesday that he hoped the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to throw out the FCC fine against CBS stations' broadcast of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime show would spur a broader debate about the need to put content-control technologies in the hands of parents. He added that this was in contrast to the Bush administration's focus on ramping up enforcement against broadcasters. Former National Telecommunications and Information Administration head and current John McCain supporter John Kneuer replied that the FCC's indecency standards needed rethinking saying that the current FCC indecency-enforcement regime was inadequate because it did not deal with the reality of content available elsewhere, including the Internet, cable and satellite. But he clarified to reporters later that he was not suggesting expanding the enforcement regime to those other platforms. He said that by suggesting that the current regime was lacking, the "more" that he was looking for was more focus on technology tools.