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stories filed under: "janet jackson"
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Nov 24th 2008 4:49am


Filed Under:
fcc, indecency, janet jackson, obscenity, wardrobe malfunction



Wardrobe Malfunction, Obscenity Or Censorship Malfunction?

from the fcc-appeals dept

Earlier this year, a court tossed out the FCC's fine on CBS for Janet Jackson's infamous Superbowl half time show "wardrobe malfunction." As the court noted, the FCC's reasoning for the fine showed an arbitrary decision that did not fit with any existing guidelines. However, it appears the FCC disagrees and is now appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court, saying that it was the court, not the FCC, that misapplied indecency rules. Of course, we're still wondering why this matters nearly five years after the incident.

35 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jul 21st 2008 3:48pm


Filed Under:
fcc, indecency, janet jackson, obscenity, superbowl, wardrobe malfunction



The FCC's Obscenity Malfunction

from the arbitrariness-is-no-way-to-govern dept

The FCC has a pretty spotty record when it comes to dealing with indecency charges. Basically, it seems to randomly fine stations if it receives enough complaints, even if most of those complaints come from auto-generated scripts from people who didn't actually see the content at all. Of course, perhaps the most highly publicized case where the FCC got involved over what it found to be indecent content was the infamous Janet Jackson Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. However a court has now ruled that, rather than a wardrobe malfunction, the real malfunction was by the FCC, which had changed its obscenity standards arbitrarily and with no explanation whatsoever in doling out fines over the incident. The court points out that the FCC is allowed to change its standards, but with an explanation and not so arbitrarily. In this case, though, it seemed clear that the response was politically motivated -- and the court has tossed out the fines.

8 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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