Thursday, February 2, 2012

Federal Regulation and Policy Making- SOPA, the Communication Decency Act, and the First Amendment


In my presentation, I will explore the question of the week, who controls/monitors the media, by examining two of the primary laws that do so- the First Amendment and the Telecommunictions Act of 1996. To provide a concrete example of how the policy-making system works, I will also discuss two controversial policies- the recently proposed SOPA bill, and a past and failed attempt of Internet regulation- the Communications Decency Act in relation to the case Reno v. ACLU.
Recently, a bill was being discussed in Congress that would have changed the nature of the Internet. The Stop Online Piracy Act  (H.R. 3261), known as “SOPA,” was aimed at taking down sites that allow Internet users to acquire pirated versions of original artistic content online. There was huge opposition to the bill, with the main concern being that the enactment of SOPA would result in ISPs and search engines being over-inclusive when taking down sites in order to avoid penalties. This would result in expelling large amounts of lawful content from the Internet. The hearing over SOPA was postponed due to concerns voiced throughout the country. While it is positive that Congress is taking time to address the concerns, we have not seen the end of this bill that is so detrimental to our open Internet.
            After Congress writes communication policy, the judiciary branch interprets challenges made to laws that question their constitutionality. A prime example is the monumental case, Reno v. ACLU.
            Reno v. ACLU addressed the question of whether or not electronic speech on the Internet could be regulated. The road to what became Reno v. ACLU began with Congress’ creation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which deregulated industries in order to increase competition. The constitutionality of two provisions in Title V, the Communication Decency Act (CDA), was brought to question by the American Civil Liberties Union. These provisions, intended to protect minors from inappropriate Internet material, criminalized the “knowing transmission of obscene or indecent messages” as well as the transmission of information which depicts or describes “sexual or excretory activities or organs” in a way that is “offensive as measured by contemporary community standards” (Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844).
            The Telecommunications Act ended up being passed without the CDA, and remains the primary law governing media in the United States. The CDA was ruled unconstitutional due to its content-based, subjective restrictions, and because it would silence some speakers whose messages would be entitled to constitutional protection. If SOPA were eventually enacted, it too could take away information that adults have a constitutional right to send and receive. Both protecting minors from offensive material and stopping online piracy would be ideal. However, the most fundamental law controlling the media requires the government to find a solution that won’t diminish the free expression of ideas.

1 comment:

brittbluestein said...

Last week, I presented information in response to the question, “who controls and monitors the media.” All three branches of the government are involved in creating, passing, and implementing the laws and policies that govern the media. Simply put, policies such as the Telecommunications Act of 1996 are created and passed by the legislative branch and approved by the President. Some, such as the Telecommunications Act, are questioned on their constitutionality, and the judiciary branch steps in to affirm the policy’s legality, make reforms, or throw out the questioned statute all together (the outcome of Title V- the Communications Decency Act).

To provide concrete examples of the media policy-making process, I focused on the proposed bill SOPA and the monumental court case Reno v. ACLU. Both the court case and the discrepancy over SOPA are related to Internet the most fundamental control of (media) communication, the first amendment. For further information on SOPA, and the other possible solution OPEN I mentioned during the class discussion, you can view an article from Oklahoma State University’s campus newspaper, The Daily O’Collegian by clicking on the link below. Although it’s not exactly a scholarly source, it is very informative and explains the basic issues in a straightforward style.

http://www.ocolly.com/mobile/sopa-is-dead-but-open-lives-on-1.2756144

In conclusion, I want to reiterate the importance of perpetuating the inclusive and limitless nature of the Internet. Regulatory measures imposed on the media are sometimes in society’s best interest. However, policies (SOPA…) that delete information, block ideas, and have the potential to suppress lawful speech are detrimental to the growth of media technology and our country as a whole.