| The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC) was assembled in February of 1996 to challenge the CDA on the grounds that the Internet is a unique communications medium,
different from traditional broadcast mass media which deserves broad First Amendment
protections. The CIEC, a broad coalition of library and civil liberties groups, online service providers, newspaper, book, magazine and recording industry associations, and over 56,000 individual Internet users, represented the entire breadth of the Internet community.
CIEC was coordinated by the Center for Democracy and Technology, America Online, and the American Library Association, and others, including People for the American Way.
CIEC filed a lawsuit on Monday, February 26, 1996 in a Federal Court in Philadelphia, PA seeking to overturn the Communications Decency Act. The challenge argued that the Internet is a unique communications technology which deserves First Amendment protections at least as broad as those enjoyed as by the print medium.
In a 73-page complaint that detailed the history of the Internet and outlined how the network operates, the CIEC intended to educate the court on how the Internet functions and why the broad content regulations imposed by the CDA threaten the very existence of the Internet as a viable medium for free expression, education, and commerce. Among other things, the CIEC challenge argued that:
- The Internet is a unique communications medium which deserves First Amendment protections at least as broad as those afforded to print media.
- Individual users and parents, not the Federal Government, should determine for themselves and their children what material comes into their homes based on their own tastes and values.
- The CDA would be ineffective at protecting children from "indecent" or "patently" offensive material online.
In a landmark victory for free speech on the Internet, the Supreme Court overturned the CDA in July 1997. The Supreme Court decision reflected many of the user empowerment principles for which the CIEC coalition argued.
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