Discuss the ways in which lawmakers have attempted to address the issue of censorship on the Internet.

What will be an ideal response?

As new outlets for expression, such as the Internet emerge, lawmakers do not always know how best to deal with them. Technology has proven especially difficult as it presents issues that the founder never anticipated. Because children have access to the Internet, which contains such things as pornography, parents and various citizens’ groups have argued for its regulation. The first attempts to address these concerns included the Communications Decency Act and the Child Online Protection Act, both of which the Supreme Court eventually struck down. Conversely, the Court has, in some cases, voted in favor of certain Internet regulations, such as that called for in the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which called for public libraries to use filtering software. At the same time, the Court has also ruled that students can publish stories online that would be censored in a hard-copy school newspaper. The Internet has also raised concern regarding intellectual property, which lawmakers have attempted to address through the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. Such legislation has faced considerable opposition from the likes of Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and others who claim it would stifle free speech and innovation. Finally, lawmakers continue to confront the issue of net neutrality, which prevents internet providers from controlling access to certain sites.