If the Federal Communications Commission wants to prevail in its crusade to get United States Supreme Court approval of its new "fleeting expletive" policy, it is going to have to convince the High Court of two things. First, the FCC must prove that the broadcasting of dirty words said on the fly somehow actually hurts people, especially children. Second, the agency must demonstrate that it had the legal right to radically alter its policy towards these naughty phrases, which up until the recent past has been relatively benign.The Commission must show that The Law has always granted the agency permission to prosecute abbreviated dirty talk, whether the FCC has historically availed itself of this tacit approval.

Solicitor General Paul Clement's brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of the FCC, submitted on Monday, accomplishes the second task adequately, I think, and the first task not at all. I doubt his arguments will convince many Ars readers. But don't forget: all the DoJ and FCC have to persuade are the Supremes. The Supreme Court will consider the FCC's appeal of a circuit court decision to strike down its recent fleeting expletive rulings this fall. Here's a recap of how we got to this place:

Congratulations to the Journal Broadcasting Group, the latest media company to hop across the Federal Communications Commission's not very deep limits on television duopolies. Journal has won the right to own two TV stations in the Tucson, Arizona market, and to allow one to pretty much operate the other. What's the reason for this particular waiver? The FCC has classified one of the licenses as a "failing station"—that is, a signal that has floundered for "an extended period of time both in terms of its audience share and financial performance." Whoever said that failure isn't an option was wrong, yet again.

The underperforming station in question is Tucson's KWBA, affiliated with the Warner Brothers CW Network. It will now be owned by Journal and more or less overseen by its Tucson sister, ABC affiliate KGUN, also a Journal license. 

A top telecommunications lawyer has filed papers with the Federal Communications Commission that take the hardest line ever against the proposed merger of Sirius and XM satellite radio. Attorney Julian R. Shepard's heavily redacted statement offers "Highly Confidential Documents," he says, that "call into question the truthfulness and candor of both Sirius and XM with respect to their dealings with the Commission as licensees during this proceeding." Shepard files as counsel for the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio, or "C3SR" as it calls itself for short.

Not surprisingly, the filing urges the FCC to reject Sirius and XM's merger application. But C3SR goes further, suggesting that the companies have been "less than candid" before the government, and that "this conduct raises serious questions that must be investigated." In fact, the agency should consider revoking Sirius and XM's licenses, the 25-page comment concludes.

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The Federal Communications Commission is looking for a bidder to provide free broadband service in the 1.9 GHz-2.1 GHz bands, agency Chair Kevin Martin told reporters on Friday. The data will have to download at a minimum of 768 kilobits, Martin said, provided at a "pretty aggressive" build out schedule: Half the United States population must be able to access it after four years, and 95% by the time the license comes up for renewal. The agency will pony up about 25 Megahertz of spectrum for this in an Advanced Wireless Services auction (AWS-3)—details to be disclosed in a Report and Order unveiled at the Commission's Open Meeting scheduled for June 12th.

There will be one more requirement for the service. A spokesperson for the Commission has told Ars that the FCC wants it to include "content filters." For what? We asked. More

Want a radio station without having to go through the bothersome process of applying and bidding for the license? Critics will doubtless charge that the Federal Communications Commission let that happen last week. The agency rejected challenges to several Idaho outlets in which the objectors warn that the winning bidder won't really run them; instead, a company linked to Clear Channel Communications that loaned the full price of the signal to the "buyer" will enjoy actual control.

The Commission also turned down an appeal suggesting that the agency awarded a major modification grant to an Oklahoma station overseen, for all practical purposes, by Clear Channel. The FCC's dismissals drew ire from Michael Copps, the Commission's senior Democrat. "These cases seem to have an air of unreality about them," Copps declared in a public statement.

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The nation's biggest electronics retailer has told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency lacks the authority to punish Best Buy for screwing up its digital transition TV selling rules.

"The Commission never before has claimed, asserted, or exercised direct or ancillary jurisdiction over retailers, or retail practices, of the nature that is asserted" by the FCC, Best Buy attorneys say. And the appliance giant charges that the Commission's recent Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) holds the company to "a standard of flawless compliance." That's especially unfair, Best Buy complains, given that the FCC's NAL also contains mistakes.

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She was thirteen years old and thought that she was having a MySpace online romance with a sixteen-year-old boy named "Josh Evans." Four weeks later, "Josh" broke off correspondence, allegedly telling the girl that the world would be a better place without her. In response, she hung herself and died a day later.

Now the Department of Justice says that "Josh" was really Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Missouri. Drew will stand trial in Los Angeles, accused of providing false information to get a MySpace account and violating MySpace terms to harass and harm other people—specifically, a girl the DOJ will only identify as "M.T.M." The accused faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

"Whether we characterize this tragic case as 'cyber-bullying,' cyber abuse or illegal computer access, it should serve as a reminder that our children use the Internet for social interaction and that technology has altered the way they conduct their daily activities," said LA FBI Assistant Director Salvador Hernandez. "As adults, we must be sensitive to the potential dangers posed by the use of the Internet by our children."