September 8, 2010
TECHNOS QUARTERLY Summer 1995 Vol. 4 No. 2
The Proposed Communications Decency Act of 1995
Sidebar for The Internet May Be the Safest Haven
In late January of this year, U.S. Senator Jim Exon (D-Neb) proposed the Communications Decency Act of 1995 to “stop those who electronically cruise the digital universe to engage children in inappropriate communications…or electronically stalk users of computer networks.” As an updated revision of the Communications Act of 1934, this act would include tougher penalties for obscene, indecent, or harassing use of telecommunications devices (a maximum fine of $100,000 and a maximum jail sentence of two years) and require cable systems to scramble adult pay-per-view programming to ensure non-subscribing households do not receive unwanted, explicit material.
Internet users have responded to the proposed act with petitions and letter-writing campaigns seeking to kill the bill, which not only would hold the sender liable for illegal material but also would hold the service provider liable. Columnist Stephen Chapman argued that “to ban material in a new medium that we tolerate in old ones is to let the novelty of strange gadgets warp our judgment” (March 26, 1995, Chicago Tribune). The bill would create two major problems, Chapman contends. First, on-line services would be exposed to liability “just for letting adults willingly converse, or exchange material, on sexual subjects of interest to both.” Second, the measure would curtail children's access to adult fare and the “freedom of adults to see and read what they choose.”
In mid-March, the act was adopted without debate and included in a general telecommunications bill approved by the Senate Commerce Committee. If the Senate passes the bill, the House will have a chance to consider it and either vote it down or pass it and recommend changes. If both the Senate and House agree on a revised version, the bill may be presented to President Clinton for signing as early as this summer.
Return to The Internet May Be the Safest Haven TECHNOS Quarterly article.