Internet Censorship

The Children’s Online Protections Act defined “material harmful to minors” as material “appealing to purient interests under current community standards; as depicting or describing sex acts, or a lewd exhibition of genitals or a woman’s breasts; and as lacking ‘serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.’ “(Thomas). Does this mean that it is fair for the government to decide which web sites are “harmful” and which are not? Whose community standards …

…Rekindles Legal Challenge.” Technology News 15 Oct. 1998, http://www.techweb.com/wire/ story/TWB19981015S0022 Lessig, Lawrence. “OPINION: Apple’s OS 9 Key to Regulating Porn Online.” The Industry Standard 10 Dec. 1999, http://www.cnn.com/ 1999/TECH/computing/12/10/os9.porn. regulation Matthews, Stacy. “Porn Restrictions Have a ‘Chilling Effect’ on ‘Net.” The Vermilion 03 Mar. 1996, http://www.louisiana.edu/ NewsPublications/TheVermilion/96_03_15/ Pierre, Thomas. “Judge Delays Internet Porn Restrictions.” CNN 19 Nov. 1998,http://cgi.cn.com/TECH/computing/9811/19/ internet.decency.02/ Nay-1