RECENT AMENDMENTS AFFECTING INTERNET FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

President Clinton signed into law the 1996 Telecommunications Bill on FEB-8. This law contained two amendments which are related to freedom of speech on the Internet:

The Communications Decency Amendment

This amendment l was sponsored by Senator Jim Exon (Democrat-Nebraska), and passed by the US Senate on 1996-JUN-14. It includes:

Section 223 (47 U.S.C. 223) is amended .... by adding at the end...:
(e) Whoever...
(1) knowingly within the United States or in foreign communications with the United States by means of telecommunications device makes or makes available any indecent comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image to any person under 18 years of age regardless of whether the maker of such communication placed the call or initiated the communication; or
(2) knowingly permits any telecommunications facility under such person's control to be used for an activity prohibited by paragraph (1) with the intent that it be used for such activity,
shall be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned not more than two years or both.

The Comstock Act

The telecommunications bill also contains amendments to the Comstock Act which were made at the last minute. The latter act was passed in 1873 to suppress the flow of both contraceptive and abortion material and information through the mail. Margaret Sanger and other early birth control pioneers were prosecuted under this law. By 1971, contraceptives were generally available to the public. The law was then updated to delete all references to contraceptives. In 1973, the US Supreme Court legalized early abortions in its famous Roe v. Wade decision. However, the Comstock law was kept on the books, unchanged until now.

"Comstock" has long been considered to be unconstitutional, but has never been declared so by a US court. By amending the law, it has gained "renewed currency" and might be ruled to be constitutional.

The new section [18 U.S.C. Section 1462(c)] it prohibits the taking or receiving, via interactive computer service of "any drug, medicine, article, or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion ... or any written or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or a notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, how, or of whom, or by what means any of such mentioned articles, matters, or things may be obtained or made."

A suit Sanger v. Reno has been filed by Alexander Sanger, President of Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) and by many other co-filers. They argue that this law violates the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, and violates the Fifth Amendment twice. The case was heard by a three-judge panel, who declared it unconstitutional. It will probably be appealed directly to the US Supreme Court.

It is believed that the law, as currently amended, bans abortion information of all types on the Internet. Our essay on abortion is probably illegal under this law. Under a wide-ranging interpretation of the term "indecent" much of this site could be illegal, because many people would consider parts of it offensive.

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