1. Chapter 3:
1st Amendment

2. First Amendment Freedom of speech and of the press
Adopted in 1791 as part of our Bill of Rights
Covers spoken and written words, art, pictures, & other expressions of ideas & opinions

3. First Amendment Not protected: Child pornography
Defamation (libel – written; slander – oral)
Speech harmful to children
Causing panic
Incitement to a crime

4. Changing Communication Paradigms
Regulating Communications Media
Print media (newspapers, magazines, books)
Broadcast (television, radio)
Common carriers (telephones, postal system)

5. Spam Blocking spam a violation of 1st Amendment rights?
Of the 200 billion messages sent per day, 80-90% are spam

6. Spam Solutions Challenge-response filtering
Services that businesses can subscribe to the keep lists of spammers to block
Pay-to- schemes
The federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2004 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act )

7. Sensitive Material Yahoo vs French censorship
the 1999 case
2000 French court order
Which country’s laws should be enforced?

8. Sensitive Material Information that could be used to harm people
White-supremacist groups
Right-wing militia groups
Anti-abortion groups
Stalkers

9. Censorship in Other Nations
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan
China
Yahoo, MSN, Google
Ai Weiwei

10. Defamation “publisher” or “distributor”? A few cases:
Cubby Inc. v. CompuServe Inc. (1991)
Stratton Oakmont Inc. v. Prodigy Services (1995)
Zeran v. America Online Inc. (1997)

11. Obscene Content How to interpret “community standards”
Art vs pornography
California couple in 1994

12. Protecting Children
1996 CDA (Communications Decency Act) – too broad and too vague – did not use the least restrictive means to protect children
1998 COPA (Child Online Protection Act) – also too broad
2000 CIPA (Child Internet Protection Act) – this is what is in effect now

13. Child Pornography & Sexting
2009 – six teens at a PA high school
2008 – Jessica Logan, Ohio teenager
2009 – Phil Alpert, Florida teenager
2008 – Ting-Yi Oei, assistant principal at Freedom High School in South Riding, VA

14. Cyberbullying and Online Postings
2009, Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives
Student Suspended for Facebook Page Can Sue ( )
Teacher may lose job after derogatory comments about her students on Facebook ( )

15. Anonymity Anonymity is protected by the First Amendment
Should it be? Does the potential harm by criminals who use anonymity to hide from the law outweigh the loss of privacy & restraint on freedom of speech for honest people who use anonymity responsibly?

16. Discussion Questions
Should businesses be able to get the real names of people posting messages that they object to?
SLAPP, a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation
ISPs keeping records of true identities of each user for a specified period of time prevents true anonymity -> does this conflict with the 1st Amendment?

17. Net Neutrality or De-regulation?
Equal access to the Internet (not allowing companies to exclude or give special treatment to content transmitted based on the content itself or on the company that provides it? - e.g. AT&T’s proposal)
De-regulation
Flexibility and market incentives will benefit customers (Should companies be permitted to provide different levels of speed at different prices? Or to block material from various sources?)

18. Supporters of Net Neutrality
“Allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success...A number of justifications have been created to support carrier control over consumer choices online; none stand up to scrutiny.” - Vint Cerf Google Chief Internet Evangelist and Co-Developer of the Internet Protocol

19. Supporters of Net Neutrality
“The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true. Let us protect the neutrality of the net.” Tim Berners-Lee Inventor of the World Wide Web

20. Discussion Questions
3.32 page 191: To what extent is violence on the Web and in computer games responsible for shootings in schools? What should be done about it without violating the First Amendment?