The Communications Decency Act Essay Research Paper

The Communications Decency Act Essay, Research Paper

The Communications Decency Act

The Communications Decency Act that was signed into law by President

Clinton over a year ago is clearly in need of serious revisions due, not only to

its vagueness, but mostly due to the fact that the government is infringing on

our freedom of speech, may it be indecent or not. The Communications Decency

Act, also know by Internet users as the CDA, is an Act that aims to remove

indecent or dangerous text, lewd images, and other things deemed inappropriate

from public areas of the net. The CDA is mainly out to protect children.

In the beginning, the anonymity of the Internet caused it to become a

haven for the free trading of pornography. This is mainly what gives the

Internet a bad name. There is also information on the Net that could be harmful

to children. Information on how to make home-made explosives and similar info

such as The Jolly Rodgers and the Anarchist’s Cookbook are easily obtained on

the Net. Pedophiles (people attracted to child porn) also have a place to hide

on the Internet where nobody has to know their real name. As the average age of

the Internet user has started to drop, it has became apparent that something has

to be done about the pornography and other inappropriate info on the net.

On February 1, 1995, Senator Exon, a Democrat from Nebraska, and Senator

Gorton, a Republican from Washington, introduced the first bill towards

regulating online porn. This was the first incarnation of the

Telecommunications Reform Bill.

On April 7, 1995, Senator Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, introduces

bill S714. Bill S714 is an alternative to the Exon/Gorton bill. This bill

commissions the Department of Justice to study the problem to see if additional

legislature (such as the CDA) is even necessary.

The Senate passed the CDA as attached to the Telecomm reform bill on

June 14, 1995 with a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bill does not pass, but is

supported by 16 Senators that actually understand what the Internet is. Seven

days later, several prominent House members publicly announce their opposition

to the CDA, including Newt Gingrich, Chris Cox, and Ron Wyden. On September 26,

1995, Senator Russ Feingold urges committee members to drop the CDA from the

Telecommunications Reform Bill.

On Thursday, February 1, 1996, Congress passed (House 414-9, Senate 91-

5) the Telecommunications Reform Bill, and attached to it the Communications

Decency Act. This day was known as “Black Thursday” by the Internet community.

One week later, it was signed into law by President Clinton on Thursday,

February 8, 1996, also known as the “Day of Protest.” The punishment for

breaking any of the provisions of the bill is punishable with up to 2 years in

prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

On the “Day of Protest,” thousands of home-pages went black as Internet

citizens expressed their disapproval of the Communications Decency Act.

Presently there are numerous organizations that have formed in protest of the

Act. The groups include: the American Civil Liberties Union, the Voters

Telecommunications Watch, the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition, the

Center for Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Privacy Information Center,

the Internet Action Group, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The ACLU is

not just involved with Internet issues. They fight to protect the rights of

many different groups. (ex. Gay and Lesbian Rights, Death Penalty Rights, and

Women’s Rights) The ACLU is currently involved in the lawsuit of Reno vs. ACLU

in which they are trying to get rid of the CDA.

In addition to Internet users turning their homepage backgrounds black,

there was the adoption of the Blue Ribbon, which was also used to symbolize

their disapproval of the CDA. The Blue Ribbons are similar to the Red Ribbons

that Aids supports are wearing. The Blue Ribbon spawned the creation of “The

Blue Ribbon Campaign.” The Blue Ribbon’s Homepage is the fourth most linked to

site on the Internet. Only Netscape, Yahoo, and Webcrawler are more linked to.

To be linked to means that they can be reached from another site. It’s pretty

hard to surf around on the Net and not see a Blue Ribbon on someone’s site.

On the day that President Clinton signed the CDA into law, a group of

nineteen organizations, from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National

Writers Union, filed suit in federal court, arguing that it restricted free

speech. At the forefront of the battle against the CDA is Mike Godwin. Mike

Godwin is regarded as one of the most important online-rights activists today.

He is the staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and has “won

fans and infuriated rivals with his media savvy, obsessive knowledge of the law,

and knack for arguing opponents into exhaustion.” Since 1990 he has written on

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