Impact of Computers on Society 5-A. Freedom of Speech

A Historic View of Modern Communications  Print media – can be purchased and/or read by anyone Newspapers Magazines and pamphlets Books  Broadcast media – broadcast through the air so that anyone can tune in Radio Television A regulated monopoly

More History  Common carriers – carried over wires or by individual delivery to patrons Postal and delivery services Telephone  Traditionally, the First Amendment protects print media, broadcast media, and common carriers

How Do Computers Fit In?  The blind men and the elephant  Somewhat like print – anyone can log on at home, in a library, or in an internet cafe  Somewhat like a broadcast medium – information on the web is generally available to all  Somewhat like a common carrier – individual subscribers to a service

Content on the Internet  News  Information (both accurate and inaccurate)  Entertainment  Web sites for a “cause” (noble, anti-government, silly, etc.)  Sales and shopping  Personal and group communication What if the colonists had had during the American Revolution!  Pornography

The P-word  Protected by the First Amendment  Purpose of 1 st Amendment is to protect points of view that may be controversial 1 st Amendment applies to government censorship, not individuals Individuals and organizations are free not to promote ideas they disagree with  Not a new problem Not a new problem  Not delivered to your doorstep uninvited  Most people choose to ignore pornography

Censorship  There is a strong urge to censor what we don’t like Attorney General Ashcroft draped a nude statuedraped a nude statue The fig leaffig leaf On what basis do we censor?  Remember that the computer is an enabling technology, not the basic cause of the problem

Craig’s List  Should the adult services area of Craig’s List be censored or banned?adult services  Google has a list of do-not-search words.list of do-not-search words Specific word listword list

Children  Easy access to “adult” websites MSD students in the computer lab  Browser hijacking and pop-ups  Some sites “push” pornography at end users  Child pornography made much easier Production Distribution  Some complications Adults portraying children in porno Virtual drawings or animations

What is the risk to a child?  Books – Peyton Place, Tropic of Cancer, Ulysses  Magazines – Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler, etc.  Perhaps a picture or two  Most of us saw these things or at least heard about them when we were growing up  Standards and tastes change Afternoon soap opera What is allowable in advertising  We all (I think!) turned out OK

An efficient delivery system  Offensive material is… A large presence on the Internet A large presence Easy to find In great quantity Thrust at you A private setting – little or no adult supervision Anonymous for both publisher and viewer Probably overstated

Porn has made positive contributions  Streaming video  Online purchases

Computer Decency Act of 1996  Too broad  Prevented many legitimate uses of the net  Struck down in court “As the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed, the Internet deserves the highest protection from government intrusion.” U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell, June 1996  The court decision hasn’t prevented multiple subsequent attempts at regulation and censorship.

Some questions  What is offensive? Nudity? Sexual acts? Violence? Hate speech?  Since the Internet uses public bandwidth (somewhat like a broadcast medium), to what extent can it be regulated?  How to regulate across state and national boundaries?

Additional Questions  To what extent should standards for children differ from those for adults? How do you set “standards” anyway?  Does censorship actually protect children?  Notice that these questions are not really computer questions, they are social questions.