Freedom of Speech and Expression Online
On February 1, 1996 the U.S. Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act. This act created criminal penalties for the "knowing" transmission over the Internet of material considered "indecent to minors." These provisions also made it a crime to make any computer network transmission with the intent to "annoy" or "harass" the recipient, and extended a criminal ban on discussing abortion devices and procedures to computer network communications ("Overview"). This was, in essence, a bill designed to censor the Internet. In response, several organizations were assembled to protest the act. Thus, the bill went to the Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the majority, stated this conclusion: As a matter of constitutional tradition, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we presume that governmental regulation of the content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas than to encourage it. The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship. ("Supreme") The Communications Decency Act was declared...
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