112
Petitioners and their amici offer various grounds for
distinguishing broadband service from other kinds of common
carriage, none of which we find persuasive. For instance, the
rules do not automatically raise First Amendment concerns on
the ground that the material transmitted through broadband
happens to be speech instead of physical goods. Telegraph
and telephone networks similarly involve the transmission of
speech. Yet the communicative intent of the individual
speakers who use such transmission networks does not
transform the networks themselves into speakers. See id. at
700–01.
Likewise, the fact that internet speech has the capacity to
reach a broader audience does not meaningfully differentiate
broadband from telephone networks for purposes of the First
Amendment claim presented here. Regardless of the scale of
potential dissemination, both kinds of providers serve as
neutral platforms for speech transmission. And while the
extent of First Amendment protection can vary based on the
content of the communications—speech on “matters of public
concern,” such as political speech, lies at the core of the First
Amendment, Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443, 451 (2011)
(internal quotation marks omitted)—both telephones and the
internet can serve as a medium of transmission for all manner
of speech, including speech addressing both public and
private concerns. The constitutionality of common carriage
regulation of a particular transmission medium thus does not
vary based on the potential audience size.
To be sure, in certain situations, entities that serve as
conduits for speech produced by others receive First
Amendment protection. In those circumstances, however, the
entities are not engaged in indiscriminate, neutral
transmission of any and all users’ speech, as is characteristic
of common carriage. For instance, both newspapers and
Seleccionar párrafo de destino3
Conectar a un párrafo
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Añadir a la tabla de contenidos