Free Internet for the masses?

Look out. It seems that the FCC's "free but censored internet" may be losing the "but censored" part:

Even though Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin is leaving in a matter of weeks, he still hopes to push through a major policy decision he’s been backing for months: One that would create a nationwide free wireless broadband network for use by all.

Until now, this ambitious proposal has met with resistance from everyone from incumbent wireless service providers such as T-Mobile USA, worried the new network would cause interference to its users to consumer advocacy groups, which have particularly objected to Martin’s idea of filtering adult content available on this public network. Well, in an interview published by Ars Technica on Dec. 29, Martin said that he has dropped his porn filtering idea in hopes of garnering more support for the open network proposal.

Unfortunately, the decision was not made because it's the right thing to do -- it was made because it would make it more popular and easier to support.

The end result, however, is the same -- making unrestricted and unfiltered access to the Internet, vital in this day and age to compete and to be able to communicate our ideas with the same ability as everyone else, just another public good.

The idea of being given access to all the Internet save the parts disapproved of by our government was hailed in some circles. Instead, if this measure passes, it'll be a strong blow to the same groups who promote a conservative Christian nanny-state.