Proponents for the CDA proclaim the CDA is solely intended to protect children from "harmful" material on the Net. | Opponents to the CDA say that "harmful" material is already restricted from children by the obscenity laws. And furthermore, there are clear(er) judicial rulings on what is "harmful" to children as opposed to what is indecent ("Harmful to children" terminology was removed from a draft version of the CDA and replaced with "indecency.") |
Proponents for the CDA say courts should rule on what is included in the "indecency" clause and what is not. They argue the court rulings would limit the scope of the "indecency" clause to harmful material exposed to children. | The judges that ruled the CDA unconstitutional argue that the language of the CDA left open the possibility of restricting content that had artistic, educational, and political merit. |
Proponents for the CDA proclaim the Internet is wide open to children who may unintentionally (or intentionally) come across indecent content. | Opponents to the CDA will say that the Internet is not like broadcast media such as radio and television in that active use of the Internet must be made to encounter such indecent material. |
Proponents of CDA-like legislation say that there will be legal restrictions applied to the Internet in some form if the CDA is ultimately proven unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, just as there have been restrictions applied to every other communication medium that has evolved in the past. Why resist restrictions that will only make the world safer, and better for you and your children? | Opponents to CDA-like legislation say that unnecessary legislation imposed onto such a dynamic new medium could kill the very heart and soul of the medium itself. Protecting children from the indecent portions of the Internet can be achieved without hindering free speech with unnecessary laws. Why write new laws when proper ones already exist? What happened to the "least restrictive means possible?" |
These summarize only a few opinions that have been expressed on the CDA. The WWW opinionated essays that have been written already fill many servers around the world and will not be expanded upon further here. Some more insight can be gained by examining what action various countries around the world are taking on the free speech/censorship issue.
Copyright © 1996 Mike McGee, All Rights Reserved
Mike McGee
<mmcgee@vt.edu>
Last modified: Thu Nov 27 13:13:33 1996