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Free Speech

Speak Freely?
The Communications Decency Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton on February 8, 1996. The Act prohibits the transmission of any indecent comment, image, or communication to a minor. In addition, the CDA also prohibits anyone from placing on the Internet in such a manner that it is available to persons under age 18 any comments, images, or other communication that depicts or describes, "in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs."(CDA) There are many views regarding the censorship argument.   Some people believe that there shouldn’t be Internet censorship laws because they inhibit free speech. They argue that the Internet is the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed, and that it deserves the highest protection from governmental intrusion. Other people argue that they should be able to go online without the risk of running into offensive, violent, racist, graphic, sexual or drug-related material.   They want Internet censorship laws to be put into place for the protection and safety of the public, and especially for children. The CDA should stay in force until and unless the Net becomes willing to establish limits and enforce standards to allow users to choose what they do and do not want to be exposed to. In his essay, Free Speech on the Internet: Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act, Stewart Dalzell argues against the CDA. He regards the Internet as a never-ending world wide conversation that the government may not interrupt. He claims that the CDA would necessarily reduce the speech available for adults on the medium, and that this is a constitutionally intolerable result. He believes that the strength of the Internet is chaos, and the strength of our liberty is the disharmony of the unfettered speech the First Amendment protects. Dalzell argues that we should expect indecent speech to occur in a...