Policy Post 6.19 | Commission On Child Online Protection Releases Report To The Congress

CDT POLICY POST Volume 6, Number 19 October 21, 2000

A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES ONLINE
from
THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS:
(1) COMMISSION ON ONLINE CHILD PROTECTION RELEASES REPORT TO CONGRESS
(2) COPA COMMISSION REJECTS CONTENT RESTRICTIONS, MANDATES, ZONING
(3) COMMISSION ADVOCATES USER EMPOWERMENT AND EDUCATION AS MOST EFFECTIVE
(4) CONGRESS STILL CONSIDERING INTERNET FILTERING LEGISLATION

(1) COMMISSION ON CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION RELEASES REPORT TO THE CONGRESS

On Friday, October 20, the Commission on Online Child Protection released to Congress a report reviewing the tools and techniques that protect children on the Internet. The Commission, which was established by Congress in 1998 as part of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), told Congress that consumer education and enhanced law enforcement are the best way to protect kids online. The Commission found that Congress would do better to let parents guide their children's Internet use through education and voluntarily-chosen technologies, rather than through new laws that could limit free speech.

The Commission's report covers a broad number of safety methods, comparing and contrasting their relative effectiveness, accessibility, and cost, and associated impacts on first amendment values, privacy, and law enforcement. Center for Democracy and Technology Executive Director Jerry Berman was one of eighteen Commissioners, together representing a wide variety of backgrounds and political affiliations.

Based on a year of hearings and meetings, the report endorses "user empowerment" - giving Internet users tools and information to make their own choices about the content they see online - as an essential part of protecting children on a global, decentralized network like the Internet. It recommends that government and the private sector redouble their efforts to inform the public about online safety and the variety of methods available to assist families. It also proposes that the government undertake more aggressive enforcement of existing laws regarding obscenity and child pornography. The Commission declined to endorse proposals to create .xxx domains or promote labeling of web sites, and rejected mandatory filtering and any new affirmative defenses to the COPA statute's regulations on Internet publishers.

For a complete listing of the Commission's recommendations, and a copy of the report, visit the Commission's web site at: http://www.copacommission.org/

(2) COPA COMMISSION REJECTS CONTENT RESTRICTIONS, MANDATES, ZONING

The Commission fails to endorse any of the many legislative options that have been proposed to control Internet content. Citing free speech concerns and worries about limited effectiveness in a global environment, the Commission report essentially rejects proposed legislation controlling "harmful to minors" content, imposing filtering mandates on schools and libraries, or forced "zoning" of the Internet (the so- called ".xxx" domain). In all of these cases, the Commission points out the associated dangers to free expression, and the limited effect that such laws would have on content carriers outside the United States.

The Commission raises important flags for Congress. While the Commission considered recommendations for new federal legislation, ultimately the Commission declined to endorse any new regulations -- including the filtering mandates now being considered by Congress. Rather, the Commission set forth a blueprint for more effective measures that need not include federal legislation likely to end up in the courts.

The Commission also declined to identify any of the examined technologies and methods as "affirmative defenses" to the Child Online Protection Act. Though the criminal provisions of COPA have been enjoined by a district court, the Commission was asked to identify practices and technologies that could be held up in a content provider's defense, should a prosecution be brought under COPA for distributing "harmful to minors" material. Its inability to do so further demonstrates COPA's impracticality and unconstitutionality.

(3) COMMISSION ADVOCATES USER EMPOWERMENT AND EDUCATION AS MOST EFFECTIVE

Two important Commission recommendations endorse public education and user empowerment as critical tools to protect children online. The Commission urges government and the private sector to undertake a major education campaign that will promote public awareness of technologies and methods available to protect children online. The report cites that this campaign should include an online component that will target those who most need help--families on the Internet. In particular, the report promotes resources that are "one click away" from parents and families, such as GetNetWise.org.

For more information on the GetNetWise project, visit: http://www.getnetwise.org/

The Commission also discussed the need for an independent, non- governmental testing facility for child-protection technologies. These technologies' capabilities and shortcomings can vary sharply between products, yet the Commission finds that those variations can be difficult to identify. The facility that the Commission endorses would provide consumers with objective, well-researched information on the features, effectiveness, prices, search criteria, transparency, flexibility, and ease of use of various technologies.

(4) CONGRESS STILL CONSIDERING INTERNET FILTERING LEGISLATION

Although the COPA Commission rejects federal filtering requirements for schools and libraries, Congress continues to move forward with just such restrictions. The "Children's Internet Protection Act" is a rider on the 2001 appropriations bill for the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, and would require schools and libraries receiving federal funding to install and use Internet filters. Although the Commission's report to Congress on this issue has long been expected, the amendment has been in play since June.

A coalition of organizations from across the political and professional spectra has expressed strong opposition to this type of legislation. CDT has been joined by conservative policy centers, industry associations, civil libertarians, and education groups in rejecting federally mandated filtering as an ill-advised attempt to insert the federal government into places where it does not belong.

The following letters, and others, are available on CDT's web site, at: http://www.cdt.org/.

Letter from CDT and from industry associations: http://www.cdt.org/speech/filtering/000928cdt.shtml

Letter from the Free Congress Foundation and other conservative groups: http://www.cdt.org/speech/filtering/001011fcf.shtml

For more information about filtering and about free expression online, visit: http://www.cdt.org/speech/

Detailed information about online civil liberties issues may be found at http://www.cdt.org/.

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