Internet Laws
Cyber Space Law Right now there is a very interesting war being waged in the court rooms across America. It is a battle for the rights of citizens on the Internet. The Internet is a fairly new medium gaining wide popularity in 1994. Because of its incredible growth in popularity in a very short amount of time it has been hard to regulate. The first act to come out regarding the Internet and Freedom of Speech was PL 99-508 the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act of 1986 . This act consisted of two parts, title I and title II. Title I - Interception of Communications and Related Matters. Basically takes the existing laws and updates them to include computers. Where before it was illegal to intercept private telephone calls, it now says it is illegal to intercept private computer transmissions. It also includes a provision to make it legal to intercept public radio transmissions like it is with public radio programs. It also allows Internet Service Providers to keep a log of who called and their activity on-line to protect themselves. Title II - Stored Wire and Electronic Communications and Transactional Records Access. This provision adds sections to Title 18 of the
After President Clinton signed the bill the ACLU filed a suit claiming it violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights. A temporary restraining order was granted enjoining enforcement of the law by a federal court. In section 2701 - Unlawful Access to Stored Communications; it makes it a federal offense to hack into a computer system. Section 2703 of USC Title 18 is the section that instructs Internet Service Providers to keep a back-up record of your activities on-line with a court order from a government entity. The Supreme Court however did not agree that the CDA violated the Fifth Amendment because it was too vague. Six Professors from Universities or state colleges in Virginia sued to have the law repealed citing that it was unconstitutional because it: (a) violates their rights and the rights of other state employees to freedom of speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution; (b) is unconstitutionally over broad and vague; and (3) violates the First Amendment and Due Process rights of public employees by establishing a system of prior restraint under which they may not speak or receive information and ideas without prior government approval. A law that was recently argued in NY's District Court was particularly interesting to me. Interestingly enough, The ACLU called on the Commerce Clause. The Judge agreed and the ACLU won the case. With that loss, proponents of the CDA have vowed to bring new legislation. On March 19, 1997 the Supreme Court hears the Shea vs. In June 1996 a panel declares the CDA unconstitutional; the Department of Justice appeals the decision to the Supreme Court. In March of 1998, the Child Online Protection Act was proposed to make it a federal crime for "Whoever, in interstate or foreign commerce, by means of the World Wide Web, knowingly makes any communication for commercial purposes that includes any material that is harmful to minors without restricting access to such material by minors pursuant to subsection (c) should be fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both. Actually what it says is that it is not illegal to gain access but once you do gain access, by mistake or intention, it is illegal to continue to access the computer system.
Common topics in this essay:
Due Process,
Lowell Reed,
Wide Web,
Supreme Court,
District Court,
Service Providers,
Matters Basically,
Stored Communications,
Internet Internet,
Fifth Amendment,
supreme court,
district court,
district court judge,
online protection act,
unconstitutionally broad,
court judge,
intercept private,
illegal intercept,
child online protection,
federal court,
violated fifth amendment,
freedom speech,
internet service providers,
title ii,
electronic communications,
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Acceptance Essays
