The First Amendment, granting Americans the right to freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and freedom to petition the government, has been one of the most heavily debated since its ratification in 1791. For years, court cases pertaining to the amendment have abounded, particularly in relation to the freedom of speech. From cases defining obscenity to those allowing for expression, the meaning of the freedom of speech has changed greatly through the years. Similarly, so has the freedom of press. As technology evolves – from the first printing press to Google Glass – so too does the media. New media calls for new laws and precedents, and social media has been no exception. The rapid pace and wide-spread accessibility of the internet and social media has caused a vacuum for laws pertaining to the subject and a need for laws and cases to define what the First Amendment means for these sites. Ideas for the internet started as early as the Cold War. The dormant war created a need for technological advances and led to the idea of a “Galactic Network” (Brief History of the Internet). From those ideas, computer leaders joined together and created ARPANET, the first connection between four host computers. ARPANET then led to the creation of the wide-spread internet, which changed the way information could be shared and distributed (Brief History of the Internet). 1975 saw the invention of email, while 1990 saw the birth of the first website. As these forms of communication took off, the application and scrutiny of the First Amendment changed with the changing world (Brief History of the Internet). The first well-known court case concerning freedom of speech and the internet was a 1991 case, Cubby,... ... middle of paper ... ...iel Lynch, Jon Postel, Larry Roberts, and Steven Wolff. "Internet Society." Brief History of the Internet. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. . McCartney, Anthony . "$430k Love settlement shows tweets can be costly." AP Online 4 Mar. 2011: n. pag. Associated Press. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. "Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act." Electronic Frontier Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. . STRATTON OAKMONT, INC. v. PRODIGY INC. Electronic Frontier Foundation. New York Supreme Court. 10 Mar. 1995. Print. Zeran v. American Online. Tech Law Journal. US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. 12 Nov. 1997. Print. Zillgitt, Jeff. "NBA referee Spooner sues Associated Press, reporter." USA Today 15 Mar. 2011: n. pag. USA Today. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
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The case that I chose to analyze is Reno v. ACLU. It is the first Internet related U.S. Supreme Court case ever to be decided. Seven of the justices found the argued provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) were unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The court found that the Internet is similar to a shopping mall or library not a broadcast medium as the government refered to it. The majority opinion for this case was that the Internet is a unique marketplace for ideas. The ruling states that while there is a large amount of pornographic material out there, it normally isn’t come across on accident. They stated that the CDA already holds back a good amount of speech that is alright for adult to adult conversations, which they do have a constitutional right to receive. While they recognize the CDA efforts to protect children from harmful speech and pornographic material, it still does not justify the unnecessarily broad suspension of speech. The final outcome was that they found that what the CDA was trying to do would violate speakers messages who are rightfully protected under the First Amendment.
In today’s society, free speech is a right guaranteed to every American in the U.S., but not all countries give their citizens that right. As computer and internet technology has grown, so too has the number of violations against free speech around the world. Some of these include censorship of the press by the government, punishment for speaking against the government, and punishment for voicing unpopular opinions. The computer and internet technology of the world is often used in these suppressions of free speech.
Key Internet Cases (2002) Significant Internet Jurisdiction Cases. Online at http://www.unc.edu Referecned on November 22nd, 2004
Free speech is a standout amongst the most esteemed freedoms yet it regularly collides with the rights and freedoms of others. The court framework has had numerous cases endeavoring to decide the breaking points of free discourse.
With an entity as vast as the Internet, it is not surprising that a variety of unanswered questions will arise. I’m positive that the Internet will continue to confound scholars as it continues to quickly evolve. By analyzing the views of the celebrants and skeptics, I have been able to understand the potential that the internet has. By using the PEC, I have been able to understand how democracy and capitalism relate to the issues of the Internet. In the future, I hope that society can develop a further understanding of the Internet and move toward the Internet that the celebrants had hoped for.
McCarthy, M. (2005). THE CONTINUING SAGA OF INTERNET CENSORSHIP: THE CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT. Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, (2), 83-101.
MacHenry, Kelly. "Arizona Civil Verdicts 2011." SWLAW. SWLAW, June 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. .
Sanvenero, Richard. "Social Media And Our Misconceptions Of The Realities." Information & Communications Technology Law22.2 (2013): 89-108. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
The history of the internet shows that the internet is not a new medium. The internet was initially created in the 1960's to as a way for the United States to stay connected in case of a nuclear fallout due to the possible consequences of the Cold War. F...
" Time for the Supreme Court to End FCC Indecency Censorship. " The Huffington Post. N.p., 11 Jan. 2012.
“an attorney representing a free-speech coalition and companies including America Online and Microsoft, told the court the
Lawyers Weekly jan. 2005: N.p. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. . Staff, Proquest. At Issue: Technology and Privacy.
Term Paper: The History of the Internet The Internet began like most things in our society, that is to say that the government started it. The Internet started out as an experimental military network in the 1960s. Doug Engelbart prototypes an "Online System" (NLS) which does hypertext browsing, editing, email, and so on. The Internet is a worldwide broadcasting resource used for distributing information and a source for interaction between people on their computers. In 1973, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated a research program to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds.
Gabbel, Alfred S. "How the Internet Changed Our World." Science and Technology June 2004: 73-75.