Speech on the Internet has been afforded the highest level of constitutional protection, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down efforts by Congress to censor online content. Yet regulatory efforts to control the Internet continue at all levels of government. Most recently, social networking sites have generated fears about child safety and exposure to inappropriate content, fueling misguided measures that do not pass constitutional muster and would do little or nothing to protect children. When styled as child protection measures, these bills are often hastily approved, without serious consideration of their efficacy or the threat they may pose to free expression.
Parents must be able to protect their children from inappropriate online content, and measures to promote parental empowerment must be genuinely effective, not symbolic. As every serious study has concluded, the right way to help families navigate the online environment is through education and parental use of technological tools that tailor children's online experiences. When it comes to children's online safety, the government should be seeking ways to empower parents, rather than acting as a censor.
Congress Should Promote Education and Awareness of Parental Empowerment Tools: Lawmakers should adequately fund efforts to educate parents about the availability and proper use of Internet filters and other parental-control technologies. Programs to promote media literacy for both adults and children can be an effective way to protect children online. Compared to other countries, our investment in technology and media literacy is inadequate and piecemeal in nature.
Congress Should Not Prevent Minors from Using Blogs and Social Networking Sites: In 2006, the House approved the Deleting Online Predators Act (H.R. 5319), which sought to prevent children from using or viewing blogs and social networking sites in schools and libraries. DOPA has been again proposed in S. 49, and referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. CDT opposed DOPA last year, and the proposal failed in the Senate. We urge the 110th Congress to reject S. 49 and similar proposals, which are both unconstitutional and ineffective. Teenagers and other children need to be taught about how to comport themselves online, and about where not to go and who not to talk with. Children should not be deprived of access to online community sites, which can offer valuable information and networking.
CDT Analysis of Legislation Regulating Social Networking Sites (August 2006).
Congress Should Not Impose a Mandatory Labeling Regime: Lawmakers have already renewed efforts - in S. 49 - to enact an unconstitutional and ineffective "mandatory labeling" law requiring Web site operators to label a wide range of lawful, socially valuable content as "sexually explicit." In addition to doing nothing to protect children from harmful material on the Internet, such legislation would be challenged almost immediately upon passage. The courts have repeatedly struck down such laws, despite aggressive efforts by federal and state attorneys to preserve them. As study panels and courts have repeatedly found, filtering and parental empowerment tools are by far the most effective way to protect children on the Internet.
CDT Letter Opposing Mandatory Labeling (August 2006)
Congress Should Not Impose New Liability on Internet Communities: Late last year, Senator McCain introduced S. 4089 (the Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act), which would have imposed new burdens and liability on social networking communities. The McCain bill is certain to be reintroduced, and we are also likely to see other measures that would make websites and service providers liable for the content posted by their users. CDT will oppose such bills, which run counter to one of the most important provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Section 230 (47 U.S.C. ยง 230), which protects Internet service and content providers from liability for the content posted by other users on the Internet. Section 230 has been absolutely essential to the protection and promotion of free speech on the Internet, and it has enabled the emergence of the Internet as a place for robust political and social debate. Its protections must be preserved.
CDT Blog Post, "Monitoring the Would-Be Monitors" (December 2006)