Re: Censorship, the Internet, and Brian Levy, J.D.

[fconley <fconley@macconnect.com>]

In granting a preliminary injunction in ACLU v. Reno (929 F.Supp. 824), 
concerning the Communications Decency Act (which would have allowed 
government censorship of material on the internet), the Third Circuit 
held that the act was unconstitutional on its face because what is 
"decent" is simply too vague a standard.

The court used strong language in its opinion, calling the Internet a 
"miracle." In granting the injunction, they noted that there are several 
options for individuals to censor online content, like SurfWatch and 
CyberPatrol. The court also noted that "communications over the Internet 
do not 'invade' an individuals home or appear on one's computer screen 
unbidden." (This is in contrast to cases like Pacifica (438 US 726) which 
dealt with radio broadcasting.) The court also noted that much content 
which can be labelled "indecent" has educational or artistic value. When 
we're talking about "porn" let's not forget the differing views of 
Mapplethorpe. (And let's not forget history, either. Galileo was tried 
before the Inquisition for supporting the Copernican theory that the 
earth was not at the center of the universe--a heretical idea.)

The internet is too big (over 40 million users) and too international to 
be easily regulated. Further, the system was designed from the ground up 
to treat any attempt at censorship as an attack, and to simply route 
around it. It's a system that can go underground in an instant. 
Ultimately any attempt to censor it will fail miserably, and might only 
succeed in making the ignorant blissful, since all the same activity will 
still go on. 

Free ideas bring the best out of humankind, and one person's heresey is 
another's truth. The variety of the world is its attraction and we can 
benefit from it. Suppression and censorship leads to the dark ages. 

Copies of ACLU v. Reno are all over the internet, but if you'd like a 
text version, I'd happily email you one. The case is on appeal to the 
Supreme Court. Of course, if you'd like to know what the historical 
outcome will be, regardless of how the Court rules, just read the 18th 
and 21st Amendments to the US Constitution.

- --Frank