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:
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.
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