Censorship in the Digital Age

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Censorship in the Digital Age

• Joseph Shelton

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History of Web Censorship

• Communications Decency Act (1996)
• law made it illegal to transmit material that
  was thought indecent or offensive on the
  World Wide Web. CDA prohibits posting "indecent"
  or "patently offensive" materials in a public
  forum on the Internet -- including web pages,
  newsgroups, chat rooms, or online discussion
  lists

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in Reno v.
American Civil Liberties Union that the CDA was
an unconstitutional restriction on the Internet,
a unique and wholly new medium of worldwide
human communication deserving of full First
Amendment protection
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History of Web Censorship (continued)

• Child Online Protection Act (COPA)
• Establishes criminal penalties for any
  commercial distribution of material harmful to
  minors. It was Considered a broad censorship law
  that severely restricts any speech on the Web
  that was harmful to minors, and imposes steep
  fines and prison terms for violators.

In 1999 the federal district court in
Philadelphia issued an injunction preventing the
government from enforcing COPA. That court held
that COPA was invalid because there is no way for
Web speakers to prevent minors from harmful
material on the Web without also burdening adults
from access to protected speech
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Microsoft Helps China to Censor Bloggers
Microsoft, an American company, is helping
censors remove key-words" from the net in China
with a software package that prevents bloggers
from using these and other politically sensitive
words on their websites. From the Guardian,
Even the most basic political discussion is
difficult because "communism", "socialism", and
"capitalism" are blocked. Many taboo words are
predictably blocked, such as Taiwanese
independence, Tibet, Dalai Lama, Falun
Gong, terrorism and massacre. Democracy
and Freedom are also among some of the blocked
words.
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Google Agrees to Chinese Censorship
Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in
China, adhering to the country's free-speech
restrictions.
Neither Google's e-mail nor blogging services
will be offered in China because the company
doesn't want to risk being ordered by the
government to turn over anyone's personal
information.
-According to the Register, Google pulled the
phrase Google does not censor results for any
search term from its Support Center website the
same day it announced Chinese web censorship.
-Googles official slogan remains, do no evil.
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Googles Search Results for TiananmenBefore
and After
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Microsofts Bill Gates defends Google over
China's internet restrictions
On January 27, 2005 Bill Gates, the billionaire
founder of Microsoft, took the rare step of
standing up for arch-rival Google and argued that
state censorship was no reason for technology
companies not to do business in China.
Gates argued that freedom of information is
available in China, despite sites discussing
issues such as Tiananmen Square and Taiwan being
blocked.
As a side note, Mr. Gates highlighted the attracti
ons of China as a market. The country is set to
become the biggest user of broadband in the
world. Gates said that "no one will catch up
except maybe India in 50 years".
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Sources
CNN http//www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/01/24/google.
china.ap/
The Guardian http//technology.guardian.co.uk/onli
ne/weblogs/story/0,14024,1506602,00.html
The Register http//www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/
27/google_doesnt_censor/
ACLU in the Courts Reno v. ACLU Supreme Court
Brief. 19 Sept. 2002. ACLU Press Release
07-18-02 - ACLU Challenges Arizona Law That
Censors
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Sources (continued)
The Times (online) http//business.timesonline.co.
uk/article/0,,19149-2012784,00.html