Pornography On The Internet Essay

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Pornography on the Internet

The Internet is a method of communication and a source of information that is becoming popular among those who are interested in the information superhighway. The problem with this world we know as Cyberspace, the Net, or the Web is that some of this information, including pornographical material and hate literature, is being accessible to minors.

Did you know that 83.5% of the images available on the Internet are pornographical? Did you know that the Internet s pornography and hate literature are available to curious children that happen to bump into them?

One of the drawing features of the young Internet was its freedom. It s "...a rare example of a true, modern, functional anarchy...there are no official censors, no bosses, no board of directors, no stockholders" (Sterling). It s an open forum where anyone can say anything, and the only thing holding them back is their own conscience.

This lawless atmosphere bothered many people, including Nebraska Senator James Exon. Exon proposed in July, 1994 that an amendment be added to the Telecommunications Reform Bill to regulate content on the Internet. His proposal was rejected at the time, but after persistence and increased support, his proposal evolved into the Communications Decency Act (CDA), part of the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act The Internet has changed the world by creating advertising, information, and businesses. However, there are the few bad apples in the Internet that have information, literature, graphics and images that have been deemed inappropriate for minors. Therefore, many people feel the Internet should be censored by the Government. The Government owns and operates the Internet and its agencies are responsible for what is on the Internet. However, for the parents with minors that are concerned about what their kids see- they should go out and get software to censor the Internet. Don t ruin everyone else s fun. Why should I have to be a peasant of the Government tyranny over the Internet? The people that worry about their kids and make the Government worry about it and pass legislation on censorship are the people that are too damn lazy to buy Internet Censorship software programs for their PERSONAL computers, NOT the entire United States . The Government wants censorship, but a segment of the Internet s population does not.

The Communications Decency Act is an amendment which prevents the information superhighway from becoming a computer "red light district."

Thursday, February 1, 1996, was known as "Black Thursday" on the Internet when Congress passed (House 414-9, Senate 91-5) into legislation the Telecommunication Reform Bill, and attached to it the Communications Decency Act. It was then signed into law by President Clinton one week later on Thursday, February 8, 1996 known as the "Day of Protest" when the Internet simultaneously went black from hundreds of thousands of Internet citizens turning their web pages black in protest of the Communications Decency Act.

The Communications Decency Act which is supposed to protect minors from accessing controversial or sexually explicit material, outlaws "obscene...", which already is a crime, and therefore the CDA is not needed, but also "...lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent", and even "annoying" "... comment[s], request[s], suggestion[s], proposal[s], image[s], or other communication "using a "...telecommunications device" all of which are protected by the First Amendment and therefore cannot be banned.

The Act is also unconstitutional because it does not follow the Supreme Court s decision in Sable Communications Vs. FCC. requiring that restrictions on speech use the "least restrictive means" possible. The Court also stated that restrictions on indecency cannot have the effect of "reduc[ing] the adult population to only what is fit for children."

We start with the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, apiece of legislation signed into law by President Clinton on February 8, 1996, and now under legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and others. The Communications Decency Act bans the communication of "obscene or indecent" material via the Internet to anyone under 18 years of age. (Telecommunications Act of 1996, Section 502, 47 U.S.C. Section 223[a].)

We all know that this new law resulted from a complex meshing of political forces in an election year during which family values will continue widely to be extolled. But, is this part of the new federal law legal? All of us have heard of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It states in pertinent part that "Congress shall make no law. . . abridging the freedom of speech . . . ." If those words are to be read literally, then the knee-jerk answer would be that this new law is illegal. But, the First Amendment, while historically read fairly broadly, has never been interpreted literally. Even Thomas Jefferson, when he served as President, tried to prosecute conduct that he viewed as seditious speech. The U.S. Supreme Court also consistently has ruled that pornography and obscenity fall outside the First Amendment, along with a variety of other seeming "speech."

At the same time, adult conduct which includes sexually oriented conduct that some (perhaps even arguably a majority) might consider immoral has been considered protected by the First Amendment when it takes place in a private setting....

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