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Freedom
of Expression and Censorship Online
Perhaps the most
controversial policy issue connected to the Internet has
been the Communications Decency Act, part of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, which initiated criminal
penalties for the transmission of "obscene, lewd or
lascivious" information over the Internet. No other issue
has galvanized the Internet-using community as much as the
CDA, yet Internet activists were unable to prevent the
bill's passage, by nearly unanimous Congressional votes, nor
its signing by President Clinton. However, in June of 1996
the CDA was ruled unconstitutional by a federal panel of
judges in Philadelphia and that decision was upheld in the Supreme Court.
What young people may encounter online continues to be a simmering controversy, however, and this controversy has intensified with the appearance of "friends" sites like MySpace, Facebook and College Humor. Should the government do something to help parents protect their children online?
The seminar will look at legislation such as the Child Online Protection Act, the Deleting Online Predators Act, and the Global Online Freedom Act, which addresses growing concerns over censorship of the Internet outside the United States, especially in China. The policies of American companies like Google and Yahoo, when they do business in countries that censor the Internet, have attracted criticism, and have been the subject of controversial Congressional hearings. Should the U.S. government encourage freedom of expression outside the borders of the country?
Readings:
Lessig,
Chapter 12
EPIC's
Communications and Decency Act Resources, Electronic Privacy Information
Center, June 1996. At: http://www.epic.org/free_speech/cda/.
"Cyberporn," Philip
Elmer-Dewitt, notorious Time magazine cover story that
launched intense Internet debate, July 3, 1995. At: http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/21cp/syllabus/time_cyberporn_article.pdf.
(Adobe Acrobat Reader or other PDF reader required.)
"Protecting
Children from Online Pornography," by Elizabeth Kaufman, LBJ School
of Public Affairs, Spring 2003. At http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/21cp/syllabus/ekaufman_paper.pdf.
(Adobe Acrobat Reader or other PDF reader required.)
"Internet
Filters: A Public Policy Report," National Coalition Against Censorship,
at http://www.ncac.org/issues/internetfilters.html. (Read the
executive summary.)
Look at the bill
summary for the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006, at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR05319:@@@D&summ2=m&,
and at a related article on News.com,
"MySpace.com May Face Legislative Crackdown," by Declan McCullagh,
July 11, 2006, at http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6092989.html?part=rss&tag=6092989&subj=news.
Review
materials and links on the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) on the
Web site of the Center for Democracy and Technology, at http://www.cdt.org/speech/copa/.
The Legal Challenge
to the Child Online Protection Act, Electronic Privacy Information Center,
at http://www.epic.org/free_speech/copa/.
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Consider watching the online video for the PBS Frontline news series, "Growing Up Online," at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/. This is an hour-long program but presented online in smaller segments. Recommended only for background, and only with a high-speed Internet connection. This is not assigned, just recommended for this class topic.
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"Free
Expression on the Internet," Human Rights Watch, at http://www.hrw.org/advocacy/internet/.
"Censorship
in Cyberspace," Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_cyberspace.
"The Connection Has Been Reset," by James Fallows, The Atlantic, March 2008, at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall.
"Google
Censors Itself in China," BBC News, January 25, 2006, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4645596.stm
"Human
Rights and the Internet -- The People's Republic of China," Google's
written statement for the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Congress
hearing, January 2006, at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/human-rights-caucus-briefing.html.
"Promoting Free Expression on the Internet," by Pablo Chavez, Senior Policy Counsel, Google, May 20, 2008, at http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/05/promoting-free-expression-on-internet.html.
Review
the summary of the Global Online Freedom Act of 2006 on Thomas, at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR04780:@@@D&summ2=m&.
Further,
optional reading:
Cyber
Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age,
by Mike Godwin, Times Books, 1998.
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