Supreme Court to consider Internet indecency law

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday that it would make a decision on a landmark case concerning free speech rights on the Internet. The justices must decide whether the U.S. government may restrict access to sexually explicit material in cyberspace.

The case stems from the Communications Decency Act, a part of a massive telecommunications bill passed into law last February.

The Communications Decency Act, or CDA, makes displaying "indecent" or "patently offensive" words or images on the Internet -- accessible to minors -- punishable by a $250,000 fine and a two-year prison sentence. The law does not target obscenity or child pornography, which are already illegal.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the act on free-speech grounds the same day President Clinton signed the bill, and convinced a district court judge to block the act from taking effect.

In June, a three-judge panel upheld the decision, and the ACLU's Ira Glaser rejoiced.

"The decision is as big and as complete and as total a victory as it was possible to have," he said in June.

But the U.S. Justice Department appealed, asking the Supreme Court to hear its argument for overturning the lower court's injunction against some parts of the CDA.

The Justice Department brief warned that if the Philadelphia court's decision is allowed to stand, it would imperil the government's ability to protect children from exposure to sexually explicit material on the Internet.

According to the Justice Department, many parents would thus be forced to deny their children any access to the medium, Internet filtering software notwithstanding.

"Patently offensive material is widely disseminated on the Internet, and computer-literate children -- of whom there are many -- can easily find and retrieve it," said the department's Acting Attorney General Walter Dellinger.

But Mike Godwin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the groups which opposed implementation of the Communications Decency Act, said he thinks the Supreme Court will let the ruling stand.

"I've spent a lot of time reading and re-reading that decision, and one of the remarkable things about it is how difficult it would be, even for the Supreme Court, to choose to overturn it in any substantive way," he said.

A host of other groups object to the act on the grounds that it is too broad, and would prohibit adult Internet users of their right to send and receive "constitutionally protected speech that deals with sexual issues," including safe sex, homosexuality or prison rape.

Among those fighting the CDA's implementation are the ACLU, the American Library Association, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The ACLU-led coalition pointed out that none of the plaintiffs "were pornographers, as that term is commonly understood, but all of them provide online speech that is sexually oriented or contains vulgar words."

The high court is expected to hear arguments early next year, and rule by July.

Correspondent Brian Nelson and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Judges rule against Internet indecency law - June 12, 1996
• Final arguments Friday in CDA case - May 9, 1996
• What's indecent on the Internet - March 21, 1996
• CNNfn - Judge blocks Communications Decency Act enforcement - February 16, 1996
• CNNfn - ACLU sues to block new telecom law - February 8, 1996
• Congress passes landmark telecom overhaul bill - February 1, 1996
• Special Report: The Telecom Bill - February 1996

Related sites:

• The Center For Democracy and Technology
  
• ACLU Freedom Network
• The ACLU's 1/29/95 letter to Congress opposing the telecommunications bill
• Electronic Privacy Information Center
• The Communications Decency Act
• VTW Focus on Internet Censorship legislation

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