The basic right to speak one's mind freely goes back to the days of the orating philosophers of ancient times. Advancing on the timeline slightly, the defining moment of free speech came with the separation of the American colonies from their British masters with the Constitution of the United States. More specifically the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights granted citizens the ever-after contentious right to freely speak our minds. Today the US continues to lead the rhetorical debate in defining freedom of speech for the Internet. The rest of the world intently watches the evolution of the discussion, both within the courts and the newsgroups. However, the rest of the world is not waiting passively for US guidance. Governments around the world are already imposing restrictions on the Net, censoring where some deem it is unnecessary. Can the global uncensored Internet that is developing be stopped? Should it be censored at all? And if so, how?
Those questions and more will be addressed in the following. Viewpoints for and against freedom of speech on the Net will be detailed, especially in terms of law. The grand stickler of them all, the Communications Decency Act (CDA) (Communications Decency Act, 1995), will be thoroughly dissected. Methods for possible restriction on the Net will be reviewed. Finally, a vision for the future of freedom of speech on the Internet will be enunciated. This all comes in an attempt to bring forth a clearer understanding on the issue of freedom of speech on the Internet.
Copyright © 1996 Mike McGee, All Rights Reserved
Mike McGee
<mmcgee@vt.edu>
Last modified: Thu Nov 27 13:13:33 1996