Originally Posted by
gsoltso
The FCC regs indicate obscene language is not protected by the 1st amendment in publication. It is still a fairly gray area on websites, and difficult to enforce because a lot of sites are private or overseas, etc. The Gov sites fall basically under the provisions set forth here. I can't find the specific regs (I don't have time right now). These are essentially what the blog operates under
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html
Bob is entirely withing his rights to censor posts that have anything in the posted rules, or that fall under obscenity regs. Direct attacks get a lot of posts removed - not references to someone making a comment and addressing it directly, but pointed attacks. Most phrases that indicate the usage of obscenity (CYA ..., etc) fall under the same guidelines.
I have had numerous submissions that have been rejected at PV, all of which complied with the stated posting guidelines.
The problem with the illegal censorship as practiced by Bob at TSA's PV is that there is no proof showing why a post was rejected. TSA has sat itself up as judge, jury and hangman. No archive of rejected posts are available demonstrating Bob's claim and everyone knows Bob has been less than forthright with the truth since blog inception.
I maintain that the speech on PV is political speech and is protected to a much higher degree than other forms of speech.