Seattle cracks down on renters, free speech – and common sense. Good luck trying to rent an apartment | Fox News

Seattle cracks down on renters, free speech – and common sense. Good luck trying to rent an apartment | Fox News:
"The Seattle City Council seems to think the right to speak is a privilege it can grant or withhold at its pleasure. 
It has slapped a year-long ban on the use of certain housing websites that allow renters to place bids on advertised rental housing, while it reviews the sites.
Officials say they fear the sites might violate local housing laws or inflate housing costs, so the City Council wants to study the sites while forbidding their use in the meantime.
While city leaders try to figure things out, landlords are barred from posting ads on the sites, and renters can’t even do a simple search for Seattle housing on the sites.
...the City Council has resurrected a frightening government power – the power to censor speech until the government has decided to approve it.
In First Amendment parlance, a law that forces speakers to receive government approval in advance of speaking (including publishing) is called a prior restraint – the most insidious form of government speech restriction..."
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