Transcript The Laws of Cyberspace

Introduction to
Chapter 2
Regulating the Net: Free Expression and
Content Controls
Overview
• Internet has increased opportunities for
citizens to exercise their free speech rights
• Not all types of speech are welcome in
cyberspace
– Pornography
– Hate speech
– Defamation
– Spam
Overview 2
• In U.S. pornography is viewed as a serious
problem
• In France and Germany they are more
concerned about hate speech
US Attempts to Legislate on
Web
• 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA)
• Criminalized the “knowing” transmission of
“obscene or indecent” material over the
Net to anyone under the age of eighteen
• ACLU filed a lawsuit claiming CDA violated
1st amendment, one year after passage
Supreme Court struck down law
A Second Attempt
• October 1998, Congress tries again passing
more precisely written Child Online Protection
Act (COPA)
• Immediately challenged by ACLU
• Web site operators required to restrict access to
any material deemed to be “harmful to minors”
• Supreme Court found that COPA was still
unconstitutional
• More details on page 115
A Third Try
• Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) passed
in 2000
• Government seeks to use entities like libraries
and schools to regulate speech available to
minors
• These institutions will be denied subsidies for
Internet access unless they install filters to block
out pornographic material
• Has this been struck down yet?
• Lets move onto our first reading from this chapter