Internet Decency Act Unnecessary
The Internet is both the most important and most misunderstood communications medium in recent history, rivaled only by the invention of movable type. And like the venerable printing press, the Internet as we know it could be on the verge of extinction.
Earlier this year, Congress passed and the president signed the Communications Decency Act (CDA), a small yet significant part of a sweeping telecommunications reform bill. A special U.S. court panel has declared the law unconstitutional, saying in its ruling that “the Internet deserves the highest protection from government intrusion.” The battle has begun, and the U.S. Supreme Court will likely have the last word.
The act makes it a crime to create and transmit “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent” materials on the Internet or commercial online services, and punishes people who “knowingly make transmissions . . . with the intent to threaten or harass another person.” How the law is interpreted and enforced, however, is where the real First Amendment threats lie.
The act--if interpreted in the narrowest way--could violate the speech and privacy rights of all those who communicate via this new digital medium.
America Online recently banned its subscribers from using the word “breast,” including women participating in a special discussion group about breast cancer (the service removed the ban after protests). Under the act, would the word “breast” be considered “indecent”?
Likewise, would sending e-mail to your senator disagreeing with his or her vote be considered “harassment?” What about conversations about abortion, AIDS or racism?
The act is misguided and unnecessary. The government is already cracking down on child pornographers who use the Internet. Besides, parents, not the government, are the best people to evaluate what their children should see. The Supreme Court acknowledged in Wisconsin vs. Yoder (1972) that the right of parents to determine what is appropriate for their children is constitutionally protected.
The last time the federal government rushed in uneducated and unprepared when dealing with a new form of communication was in the 1920s. Radio was exploding across the country, and all with the right hardware could launch their own radio station, just as anyone with the right hardware and software today can “publish” material on the Internet.
Of course, no one did their homework, and the result was that hundreds of educational radio stations, most run by colleges and universities, were pushed off the air. The same could happen today unless cooler heads prevail and prevent another premature chilling of free speech.
