• Acceptance Essays
• American History
• Anatomy
• Animal Science
• Anthropology
• Arts
• Astronomy
• Aviation
• Beauty
• Biographies
• Book Reports
• Business
• Computers
• Creative Writing
• Current Events
• Economics
• Education
• Engineering
• English
• Environmental Science
• Ethics
• European History
• Film
• Foreign Languages
• Geography
• Government
• Health
• History
• Human Sexuality
• Legal Issues
• Marketing
• Mathematics
• Medicine
• Miscellaneous
• Music
• Mythology
• Philosophy
• Physiology
• Poetry
• Political Science
• Politics
• Psychology
• Religion
• Science
• Shakespeare
• Social Issues
• Sociology
• Speech
• Sports
• Supernatural
• Television
• Technology
• Theater
• Zoology
• All Term Papers

The Communication Decency Act: The Fight For Freedom Of Speech On The Internet

The Communication Decency Act: The Fight For Freedom of Speech on the Internet

The Communication Decency Act: The Fight For Freedom of Speech on the Internet

    The Communication Decency Act is a bill which has insulted our right as
American citizens. It a bill which SHOULD not pass. I'll share with you how
Internet users are reacting to this bill, and why they say it is
unconstitutional.
    Some individuals disagree with one part of the bill. According to
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ query/z?c104:s.652.enr:, which has the
Communications Decency Act on-line for public viewing,: "Whoever uses an
Internet service to send to a person or persons under 18 years of age......any
comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image,........or anything offensive as
measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or
organs.....shall be fined $250,000 if the person(s) is/are under 18.......
imprisoned not more than two years.......or both."
    The wording of that section seems sensible. However, if this one little
paragraph is approved, many sites such as the: Venus de Milo site located at:
http://www.paris.org/Musees/Louvre/Treasures/gifs/venusdemilo.gif; the Sistine
Chapel at:
http://www.oir.ucf.edu/wm/paint/auth/michelangelo/michelangelo.creation and
Michelangelo's David @ http://fileroom.aaup.uic.edu/FileRoom/images/image201.gif
could not be accessed and used by anybody under the age of 18. These works of
art and many other museum pictures would not be available. The bill says these
sites show indecent pictures.
    The next part of the CDA has everybody in a big legal fit. We, concerned
Internet users, took the writers of this bill to court, and we won.
    This part of the bill states: "Whoever....makes, creates, or
solicits...........any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other
communication which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent.......with
intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person......by means of an
Internet page..........shall be fined $250,000 under title 18......imprisoned
not more than two years....or both......"
    The writer of that paragraph of the bill forgot something. It violates
the constitution. The First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no
law....prohibiting or abridging the freedom of speech......the right of the
people peaceably to assemble.....and to petition the Government.............."
    This bill does exactly that. It says we cannot express our feelings
cleanly

Read the rest of the term paper