Group Community: A World Without Borders Kimberly Carter David Dobin Tim Hammond Chris Rushing

Mass Media Telephone Television Now the Internet A much different entity

Censorship How to go about it? No clear and easy answer defined structure and organization? community standards? accessibility

Borderless Community Most types of human interaction are governed by territorially based rules Physical barriers that exist in real life are easier to police Neighborhoods States Democracies like the United States rely on the consent of the governed

Redefining Community The Internet is the first truly “many to many” medium Users can be anonymous Members can exist beyond usual physical boundaries such as townships or states that would otherwise foster social norms Members do not have to be held accountable for their actions.

State Laws and Physical Communities Miller vs. California (1973): established a 3 pronged guideline for determining if material was obscene Material is obscene if: It depicts sexual (or excretory) acts whose depiction is specifically prohibited by state law; It depicts these acts in a patently offensive manner; appealing to prurient interest as judged by a reasonable person using community standards It has no serious literary, artistic, social, political, or scientific value

State Laws and Internet Communities Amateur Action BBS: a member in Tennessee downloaded illegal images in his state from a site in California, where it was legal Couple that ran the BBS was tried in Tennessee and found guilty of violating Tenn. community standards although their actions where legal in California, where both they and the server resided ACLU: “Nothing can be put on the Internet that is more racy than would be tolerated in the most conservative community in the US”

What Does this Mean for Internet Communities? Should online communities have the same rights as physical communities? Are they “real” communities or are they just another form of communication? These questions require a well-defined classification of Internet communities and moral/ethical standards before they can be answered.

Communications Decency Act Passed in 1996 Part of Telecommunications Act of 1996 Designed to Protect Children from the dangers of the Internet

Reasons for Creating CDA FBI released a report in 1995 stating that the Internet was a new breeding ground for… Child Molesting Child Pornography

What does the CDA do? NOTHING!!!

Why does the CDA do nothing? Anonymity of the Internet No way of really knowing whether 10 year old or a 40 year old is accessing something over the Internet. Lack of Standards The CDA the words “obscene” and “indecent” which are vague and subjective.

Liability Problems The CDA states that anyone who make “obscene” or“indecent” materials available to minors is to be punished. This means that ISPs and Telecommunications companies are punished also. Led to ISP over-censorship for protection AOL protest

Current State of the CDA Declared Unconstitutional Reno v. ACLU 1997 Declared CDA unconstitutional for vagueness as to what exactly is obscene or indecent Other obscenity and indecency laws will apply to internet still to protect the children Includes Child Pornography laws

The CDA The CDA was a failure as a law It was never really enforced Shows how hard it is to really control the internet The Internet is Global The CDA only covered America Another Solution is needed

P latform for I nternet C ontent S election

A label system in which web sites get descriptions. Based on the settings of the software that you can use to filter content, like Net Nanny, then you either can or cannot see the web site.

Gives users control over what they see on the Internet. The government does not have to censor web sites. Off-line community standard can be kept on-line.

Someone who does not own a computer cannot make their own standards! The user will be forced to follow someone else’s standards, like the public library’s (Most likely the most conservative)!

Provides a border-less solution for a border-less problem! Users can choose their own community standards, whether they are new on-line or off-line holdovers! The problems with PICS can be solved easily with the implementation of preferences at public libraries using a simple database.

Conclusions? Private Industry

Solutions PICS already proven Government has fouled up similar problems in the past Self-regulation more efficient and effective in the short term as well as long term

Questions?