February 8, 1996 - Congress Passes Communications Decency Act
The Communications Decency Act (CDA) is passed by Congress as a last minute addition to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The CDA criminalizes the display or transmission of obscene or indecent materials via the Internet to persons under the age of 18. In 1997, in ACLU v. Reno, the U.S. Supreme Court will rule most of the CDA unconstitutional, stating that its indecency provisions violate the First Amendment right to free speech.
Related resources:
- Audio: Censoring Cyberspace: Library Internet Filtering (Justice Talking)
- Reno v. ACLU (FindLaw)
- Telecommunications Act of 1996 (FindLaw)
