Abstract:

With the emergence of the Internet as a forum for information exchange, communication, and commerce there has been a lot of discussion about if and how to regulate what flows over the wires. The recently passed Telecommunications Act of 1996 (henceforth referred to as the TCA) brought this debate out into the open.

The question is how much is free speech in an environment such as the Internet where everyone can see just about everything else? What is appropriate to have in such a forum? Is the Internet a public place, or is it a private club for its members only? Or is there some happy medium in between?

The TCA banned the flow of obscene, lude, or filthy material over the Internet. Should this apply just to web pages, or should private e-mail be included in this act? Who should be held responsible for the passing of the material. The person who downl oads it? The person who put it there to download? The service provider? Or perhaps the technician who installed the wire into the home of the person who downloads the 'bad' material?

We will be trying to decide today what the Internet is. Is it a broadcast medium and should be treated as such, or should it be treated as a place to share thoughts in private with one another? Do you have the right to say whatever you want in a privat e e-mail? Do you have the right to say whatever you want in a public forum? Is the Internet merely a right of the people to freely assemble, and therefore off limits to the legislative powers of our government?

We will also be looking at some of the following links:

http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~gerald/barney

http://www.indirect.com/www/beetle87/rush/index.html

http://fas.sfu.ca/comm/c-mass/issue2/h8-index.html

http://members.tripod.com/~christianknight/klan.html

http://www.isoa.uiowa.edu/~isms/nambla.html

http://www.playboy.com

http://ww.intermac.com/niteporno

http://www.webpower.com/amateurs/side.htm