The Communications Decency Act The Communications Decency Act that was signed into law by President Clinton over a year ago is clearly in need of serious revisions due, not only to its vagueness, but mostly due to the fact that the government is infringing on our freedom of speech, may it be indecent or not. The Communications Decency Act, also know by Internet users as the CDA, is an Act that aims to remove indecent or dangerous text, lewd images, and other things deemed inappropriate from 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 a haven for the free trading of pornography. This is mainly what gives the Internet a bad name. There is also information on the Net that could be harmful to children. Information on how to make home-made explosives and similar info such as The Jolly Rodgers and the Anarchist's Cookbook are easily obtained on the Net. Pedophiles (people attracted to child porn) also have a place to hide on the Internet where nobody has to know their real name. As the average age of the Internet user has started to drop, it has became apparent that something has to be done about the pornography and other inappropriate info on the net. On February 1, 1995, Senator Exon, a Democrat from Nebraska, and Senator Gorton, a Republican from Washington, introduced the first bill towards regulating online porn. This was the first incarnation of the Telecommunications Reform Bill. On April 7, 1995, Senator Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, introduces bill S714. Bill S714 is an alternative to the Exon/Gorton bill. This bill commissions the Department of Justice to study the problem to see if additional legislature (such as the CDA) is even necessary. The Senate passed the CDA as attached to the Telecomm reform bill on June 14, 1995 with a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bill does not pass, but is supported by 16 Senators that actually understand what the Internet is. Seven days later, several prominent House members publicly announce their opposition to 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 the Telecommunications Reform Bill. On Thursday, February 1, 1996, Congress passed (House 414-9, Senate 91- 5) the Telecommunications Reform Bill, and attached to it the Communications Decency 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.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Line Item Veto Act into law. This would allow the president to get rid of a part of a bill and not disapprove the entire bill. The first time that President Clinton used this power, he used it to refine the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, he got rid of a part of the bill that waived the Federal Governments statutory right to get back or receive $2.6 billion in taxes that were levied by the City of New York. President Clinton also line item vetoed a section of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 that wouldn’t allow certain food processors and refiners to sell their stock to farmers to defer the recognition of capital gains. This is when the Snake River Farmers’ and City of New York went after Clinton.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 can be termed as a major overhaul of the communications law in the past sixty-two years. The main aim of this Act is to enable any communications firm to enter the market and compete against one another based on fair and just practices (“The Telecommunications Act 1996,” The Federal Communications Commission). This Act has the potential to radically change the lives of the people in a number of different ways. For instance it has affected the telephone services both local and long distance, cable programming and other video services, broadcast services and services provided to schools. The Federal Communications Commission has actively endorsed this Act and has worked towards the enforcement and implementation of the various clauses listed in the document. The Act was basically brought into existence in order to promote competition and reduce regulation so that lower prices and higher quality services for the Americans consumers may be secured.
they passed the Wade-Davis Bill, which was a bill stating that the majority of the voters
SENATE VOTES 212-298, 393-493, reported by Congressional Quarterly, Washington D.C. September 2, thru October 14, 1995, 2680-3162.
In the early part of the twentieth century, the general idea was that all Americans should have phone service. The other general idea regarding phone service was that the government should assist in promoting this as well. As a result of these general ideas the telecommunications industry became a natural monopoly. AT&T, which traces its routes to the founding of the telephone, promoted a Single Policy, Single System geared towards Universal Service. Thus by 1920, AT&T emerged as the dominant telecommunications company. Until 1934 AT&T was highly regulated by the states with price control per the government's request to protect consumers from abuses often associated with monopolies. The Telecommunications Act of 1934 created the Federal Communications Commission, which took regulation to the federal level.
...ed with a vote of 63-34. It was then sent to the House on October 25, 1999. On April 5, 2000, H.R. 3660 was passed with a vote of 287-141, then there was a motion to reconsider. It was then receive by the Senate on April 6, 2000.
Americans’ over-dependence on the internet is causing more harm than good. Technological advancement, coupled with our easy access to virtual life through computers, cell phones, iPods among others has introduced us into a new era of extreme livelihood and lifestyle; we have gradually expanded internet use to do most of our activities of daily living for us. This growing trend in internet obsession has led to increase in online sexual predators, social withdrawal, Internet fraud and health issues. This social stigma if left unchanged will lead to further deterioration in our emotional, physical and social wellbeing. This paper will take the position that our overly use of the Internet has caused more harm than good.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was enacted in 1986 to revise federal wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping provisions. It promotes the legitimate needs for law enforcement and most significantly, the privacy expectations of citizens. ECPA created the Stored Communications Act( SAC), which has created controversy in criminal cases where electronic communications have been present. Usually, in a case where electronic communications happened, one of the court's main task is to determine whether the crime violated the ECPA or the SCA. The case I will present next is a sample of the holding of a judge in a case where both of the acts became contradiction towards the final decision of the case.
The Internet is fraudulently represented in movies, such as The Net. Movie producers tap into the emotional fears of the public and stretch the fears of the viewers as far as they will go, stopping just before they access the peoples more rational train of thought. The Net, a popular movie in 1995, compels people to think that what is happening in this movie, could just as well happen to them. When the movie The Net came out in 1995, the public was just receiving the basic e-mail accounts. The common person had little to no knowledge of the Internet. As soon as filmmakers found this piece of information, they seized the idea of the Internet, a dangerous place for all. The producers gave the idea that if people type out where they live, what their telephone number is, etc., just to get their e-mail account, the government will track them and quite possibly, be running for their life. The public felt this way because of the misconceptions of where their info is going. They thought that while they were typing it out, it would be presented for many other people to see.
The more we know about the dangers of the Internet the easier it will be to protect us from the threats against our privacy. It should be and can be a safe, fun place to explore. The dangers are many but they should not keep us away from enjoying the vast resources that the Internet offers.
3. Is Internet harmful or useful for children? Internet can be more than useful. It helps children in studies; it’s very easy to find information with the help of Internet. There is no n...
In this modern age using of technological gadgets is very norm and usual, almost everyone nowadays owns a pair of gadget in their hands. Overusing of the technological gadget can not only be risky to the health, but also to psychological aspect of the child. Overusing causes addiction to the gadget which can be the cause of many children and teenagers procrastinating many things. Especially ignoring their studies and pleasing them with the entertainment that the gadget hold within itself. The internet holds a broad range of information that a person can search and explore without consuming a lot of time. The internet also holds plethora of negative effects as it causes a person to think differently and to behave differently.
Everything revolves around the internet these days. Every business, big or small has a internet website for you to visit. Let’s face it, the internet is not going away, we as a people must learn to use this tool and not think of it as a negative thing. The internet must be used positively to benefit us. We can find anything we want through the internet. The internet can be abused but we must educate our children so they can use it effectively to their advantage. We definitely need to make most schools have the internet in classrooms, there is no doubt about it.
The use of the internet has advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, you have more knowledge than at any other time in history. On the other hand, there are violent websites or dangerous content and, in addition, people can be anonymous, which allows generating even more violence.
The internet could also be negative to our kids lives. The internet is very addicting to society. Internet has a variety of negative effects on a person. The largest effect is social. People draw from friends in family , instead they are using the computers to inter...