The Communications Decency Act :: essays research papers

The Communications Decency Act     The Communications Decency Act that was signed into law by PresidentClinton over a year ago is clearly in need of serious revisions due, not only toits vagueness, but mostly due to the detail that the government is infringing onour freedom of speech, may it be indecent or not. The Communications DecencyAct, also know by Internet users as the CDA, is an Act that aims to bear awayindecent or dangerous text, lewd images, and other things deemed inappropriatefrom public areas of the net. The CDA is mainly out to protect children.     In the beginning, the anonymity of the Internet caused it to become ahaven for the free trading of pornography. This is mainly what gives theInternet a bad name. There is also information on the Net that could be harmfulto children. training on how to make home-made explosives and similar infosuch as The Jolly Rodgers and the Anarchists Cookbook are easily obtained onthe Net. Pedo philes (people attracted to child porn) also have a place to hideon the Internet where nobody has to know their real name. As the average age ofthe Internet user has started to drop, it has became apparent that something hasto be do about the pornography and other inappropriate info on the net.     On February 1, 1995, Senator Exon, a Democrat from Nebraska, and SenatorGorton, a Republican from Washington, introduced the source bill towardsregulating online porn. This was the first incarnation of theTelecommunications Reform Bill.     On April 7, 1995, Senator Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, introducesbill S714. Bill S714 is an alternative to the Exon/Gorton bill. This billcommissions the Department of Justice to study the problem to arrest if additionallegislature (such as the CDA) is even necessary.     The Senate passed the CDA as attached to the Telecomm reform bill onJune 14, 1995 with a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bil l does not pass, but is back up by 16 Senators that actually understand what the Internet is. Sevendays later, several prominent House members publicly announce their oppositionto the CDA, including Newt Gingrich, Chris Cox, and Ron Wyden. On September 26,1995, Senator Russ Feingold urges committee members to drop the CDA from theTelecommunications Reform Bill.     On Thursday, February 1, 1996, Congress passed (House 414-9, Senate 91-5) the Telecommunications Reform Bill, and attached to it the CommunicationsDecency Act. This day was known as "Black Thursday" by the Internet community.One week later, it was signed into law by President Clinton on Thursday,February 8, 1996, also known as the "Day of Protest.