The FCC has started to dig through its backlog of indecency complaints. This predictably triggers some cheap shots at the FCC with the non-sequitor that somehow this is the fate of the Internet if the FCC does Net Neutrality. While it is no doubt laboring in vain to point out the unfairness of this for the FCC, here goes.
I'm no fan of the broadcast indecency rules. I do, however, believe very strongly in the rule of law and the idea that an administrative agency has a duty to uphold the law and process complaints. That is what makes and keeps federal agencies accountable to Congress, the democratic process, and the rule of law generally. This means enforcing laws you don't particularly like and defending them in court.
There is a federal statute making it illegal to broadcast “indecent” material. Following this requirement, the FCC set up a complaint process and does what Congress told it to do: enforce the statute. A number of citizens spend, IMO, an inordinate amount of time filing complaints about programming they think violates the statute. This is their right as citizens. It is also their right as citizens to expect the FCC to treat these complaints seriously and address them in a timely manner. Anything less by the agency is a betrayal of the trust placed in the agency by all citizens that it will uphold the law to the best of its ability.
Those who don't like this system should go pound on the doors of members of Congress to get the law changed. Or can continue to take part in the ongoing legal challenges to the law. But to blame the FCC for simply doing its job is foolish. To then turn it into a cheap shot over an entirely unrelated policy issue is worse than foolish. It is to display either an appalling ignorance of the law or to engage in a deliberately disingenuous and deceptive tactic.