Communications has been in a process of evolution and revolution from the time the first cave person drew pictures on a wall through the inventions of the printing press, the telephone, radio, and television to the most current revolution – the Internet. This paper will attempt to briefly examine online sexual harassment and the constitutionally granted rights of the First Amendment. In the interests of brevity and to remain with in the parameters of the paper any discussion will exclude workplace sexual harassment, flaming and stalking. The issue of public versus private forum has been discussed in many papers and journals and will not be covered in this paper. We also assume that any reader of this paper has a basic knowledge of sexual harassment issues.
Any discussion of an area concerning the Internet must involve a fundamental understanding of its background and operations. The Internet began in the 1960’s as a method of preserving communications in the event of nuclear attack. It originally linked government and university computers. It was placed under the auspices of the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Project Agency and was known as ARPANET. From 1969 to 1979, Dr. John Postel developed a procedure, based on the use of addresses that allowed ARPANET to connect to an other network, operated by the National Science Foundation. "…Addresses are long strings of numbers that facilitate the sending of information from one network computer to another…to assist in remembering the addresses Postel and his coworkers assigned each computer a name, which a file on each computer translated into numbers. " With the growth and popularity of the Internet modifications to this system were necessary. "[T]he ‘nicknames’ were sepa...
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...13 American University International Law Review (1998) 765-814. Online. Available from WestLaw database Journals and Law Reviews file: AMUILR
Reno v ACLU electronic Privacy Information Center Online. No. 96-511 Argued March
19, 1997 - Decided June 26, 1997 http//:www2.epic.org/cda/cda_decision.html
"Supreme Court Affirms a Portion of the Communications Decency Act," Cole Raywid & Braverman, LLP (1999) 1. Online http//www.crblaw.com/1999/04219901.htm
Apollomedia Corporation v Reno No. C-97-346 MMC Sept. 23, 1998 Cole, Raywind &
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Turner, William Bennett. "What Part of 'No Law' Don't You Understand?" Wired
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The Harvard Law Review Association. (2005). The Debate over Foreign Law in Roper v. Simmons. Harvard Law Review , 119 (1), 103-108.
An earlier version of the law -- the 1996 Communications Decency Act -- was struck down as an unconstitutional restriction of free speech when challenged by the ACLU; the 1998 version attempted to address the constitutional concerns by limiting its scope to commercial websites, and carving out an exception for material that has "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors." (Communications)
Drumbl, M. B. (2007). International Decisions. American Society of International Law , 101 (4), 841-848.
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Sandy Welsh, Jacquie Carr, Barbara MacQuarrie, Audrey Huntly “I’m Not Thinking of It as Sexual Harassment”: Understanding Harassment across Race and Citizenship. Gender and Society. 20.1 ( 2006): 87-107. Print.
First Amendment protections were upheld in the case of Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997) (Reno, 1997). The Communications Decency Act of 1996 was found to violate the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech. In appealing the CDA, appellees were hoping that the court would determine that the CDA violated both First and Fifth Amendment rights. While the court agreed that the CDA violated First Amendment rights, they did not rule on the issue of Fifth Amendment rights violations. Both constitutional and criminal issues were being addressed in this appeal.
... middle of paper ... ... Gonzaga Law Review 33.3 (1998): 653-668. HeinOnline.com -.
McCarthy, M. (2005). THE CONTINUING SAGA OF INTERNET CENSORSHIP: THE CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT. Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, (2), 83-101.
gives all of us the right to be treated fairly and to take action if
Sexual harassment is so ordinary in the workforce that frequently we fail to even recognize harassing behavior as immoral. This is because so many of us--women and men alike--have become desensitized to offensive behaviors. Sexual harassment in any form is unacceptable behavior and should not be tolerated by anyone. It undermines our ability to study, to work, and to feel like effective, empowered people in the world.
The history of the internet shows that the internet is not a new medium. The internet was initially created in the 1960's to as a way for the United States to stay connected in case of a nuclear fallout due to the possible consequences of the Cold War. F...
Von Galhn and Taulbee. 2013. Law Among Nations. An Introduction to Public International Law. Pearson Education.
The Internet is a global network connecting millions of personal, institutional and company computers. The number of computers used by the internet is growing rapidly. The United States is connected with over 100 countries worldwide and linked together to exchange of data, news and opinions. The Internet is decentralized design. This means that there isn't just one computer that stores all of the information from the Internet. There are many independent host servers located throughout the US and the world that store the information made available to the global Internet community.
Since the development of the Internet in late 1980s, communication has changed enormously. The Internet has altered the lives of people in the world in a way that was never imagined before. As little as a decade ago, if someone tried to explain the Internet and World Wide Web, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to understand. Computers were just beginning to become popular and few individuals realized the capacity of one PC, let alone the power of a network of electronic technology. By linking together computers, users could remotely access others on the network, share information, and send electronic mail as easily as pushing a button. Millions of people with shared interests, exchange information and build communities through Web sites, email and instant-messaging software.
The Internet has revolutionized the computer and communications world like nothing before. The Internet enables communication and transmission of data between computers at different locations. The Internet is a computer application that connects tens of thousands of interconnected computer networks that include 1.7 million host computers around the world. The basis of connecting all these computers together is by the use of ordinary telephone wires. Users are then directly joined to other computer users at there own will for a small connection fee per month. The connection conveniently includes unlimited access to over a million web sites twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There are many reasons why the Internet is important these reasons include: The net adapts to damage and error, data travels at 2/3 the speed of light on copper and fiber, the internet provides the same functionality to everyone, the net is the fastest growing technology ever, the net promotes freedom of speech, the net is digital, and can correct errors. Connecting to the Internet cost the taxpayer little or nothing, since each node was independent, and had to handle its own financing and its own technical requirements.