Offensive Speech and Censorship in Cyberspace

Speech Might Include:

• •Political or religious speech.
• Pornography.
• Sexual or racial slurs.
• •Nazi materials.
• •Libelous statements.
• •Abortion information.
• •Alcohol ads.

Material Inappropriate for Children

Technology Changes the Context

•On the Web, children have access to the same ‘adult’ text, images, videos, etc. as adults.

•Online proprietors don’t know the customer is not an adult.

Protecting Children

Regardless of the medium:

–It is illegal to create, possess or distribute child pornography.

–It is illegal to lure children into sexual activity.

Censorship Laws

Child Online Protection Act (COPA, 1998)

• •Commercial Web sites that make available to minors materials “harmful to minors”, as judged by community standards would be subject to a $50,000 fine and six months in jail.

• •In 2000 and 2003, COPA was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court.

Limiting Internet Access in Libraries and Schools

Filtering Software

• •Benefit: prevent access to inappropriate material on the Internet by screening words or phrases, blocking sites according to rating system, or disallowing access to specific sites in a list.

• •Problems: can be ineffective—kids get around the filters; the words, phrases, rating systems, etc. are subjective; “banned” keywords can be overly restrictive for adult users and for legitimate use by minors.

Challenging Old Regulatory Paradigms and Special Interests

License required:

• •To practice law.

• •To publish traditional newsletters about commodities and futures investing (prior to 2000).

No license required:

• •To create downloadable, self-help legal software.

• •To publish newsletters about, developing software for, and operating Web sites concerning commodities and futures investing (since 2000).

Censorship On the Global Net

Global Impact

• •Avoiding censorship: the global nature of the Net allows restrictions (or barriers) in one country to be circumvented by using networks in other, less restrictive countries.

• •Creating censorship: the global nature of the Net makes it easier for one nation to impose restrictive standards on others.