[EAS] Compulsory carriage of EAS messages is unconstitutional

[John Willkie]

There has been a round of discussions here that carrying EAS messages should be compulsory, and that the "NAB drags it's feet on this."

Government mandating ANY speech on a person or business is called, by legal beagles "compelled speech."  Here's a precis of a recent case more or less on point http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/high-court-takes-up-case-on-compelled-speech

Bottom line: compelled speech (even for altruistic or merely good purposes) is tyranny unless the government owns the station.   In the case above, "Live Free or Die" on New Hampshire license plates isn't compelled speech under the law because the New Hampshire government owns the car license plates, and motorists have to present unmodified plates to legally drive their cars on public roads.

The NAB represents first amendment "voices" and has been quite consistent on first amendment issues for longer than any of us have been alive.  This is a feature of the NAB; its insistence that EAS be optional is not a bug or aberration.

John Willkie
EtherGuide Systems