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In the past decade,
there have been two major attempts to federally regulate
the Internet through bills passed in Congress, the Communications
Decency Act I and II. Both, however, have been struck down
in their quest to legislate where Congress has not gone
before. The CDAs were drafted in an attempt to satisfy the
national demand for Internet censorship; but both bills
were declared to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
| The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees American citizens that they will be free from restrictions on speech and press, amongst other natural, inalienable rights. This basic pillar of our democracy has withstood judicial review time and time again. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has been very careful not to restrict citizens' freedom of speech and press. Despite the Supreme Court's insistence that the federal government avoid regulations of this nature at all costs, members of Congress still felt the need to pass and sign into law the CDA in an attempt to protect American citizens from the obscenity perceived to be inappropriately available on the Internet. What is so dangerous on the Internet to make Congress pass such legislation? How far can Web publishers go before they risk the policing of this rapidly emerging medium? Or is it that the Internet should never need to fear the imposition of government restrictions of any kind?
There is no question that
much of the material available on the Internet is not suitable
for all audiences. However, the question of who should be responsible
for monitoring those inappropriate sites that are available to
our children is a question that our nation and federal government
will continue to grapple over. Some say there should indeed be
federal legislation outlawing offensive and obscene Web sites.
Others insist that universally accepted and available filtering
software is the way to go. There are still others who believe
the Internet should remain unregulated and that parents and teachers
should jointly shoulder the responsibility of monitoring our children's
use of the Internet. The debate is surely not going to die with
the CDA I and II; the CDA III has already gone through the draft
stages. This topic of modern ethics and morality will continue
to haunt our nation, a nation founded on the principles of freedom
of speech and press.
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