Internet censorship in the United States
In the United States, internet censorship is the suppression of information published or viewed on the Internet in the United States. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects freedom of speech and expression against federal, state, and local government censorship.
In 2014, the United States was added to Reporters Without Borders (RWB)'s list of "Enemies of the Internet", a group of countries with the highest level of Internet censorship and surveillance. RWB stated that the U.S. has "undermined confidence in the Internet and its own standards of security" and that "U.S. surveillance practices and decryption activities are a direct threat to investigative journalists, especially those who work with sensitive sources for whom confidentiality is paramount and who are already under pressure."[1]
Overview[edit]
The strong protections for freedom of speech and expression against federal, state, and local government censorship are rooted in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. These protections extend to the Internet, and as a result, very little government-mandated technical filtering occurs in the US. Nevertheless, the Internet in the United States is highly regulated, supported by a complex set of legally binding and privately mediated mechanisms.[2]
After more than two decades of ongoing contentious debate over content regulation, the country is still very far from reaching political consensus on the acceptable limits of free speech and the best means of protecting minors and policing illegal activity on the Internet. Gambling, cyber security, and the dangers to children who frequent social networking sites are important ongoing debates. Significant public resistance to proposed content restriction policies has prevented the more extreme measures used in some other countries from taking hold in the U.S.[2]
Public dialogue, legislative debate, and judicial review have produced filtering strategies in the United States that are different from those found in most of the rest of the world. Many government-mandated attempts to regulate content have been barred on First Amendment grounds, often after lengthy legal battles.[3] However, the government has been able to exert pressure indirectly where it cannot directly censor. With the exception of child pornography, content restrictions tend to rely more on the removal of content than blocking; most often, these controls rely on the involvement of private parties, backed by state encouragement or the threat of legal action.[4] In contrast to much of the rest of the world, where ISPs are subject to state mandates, most content regulation in the United States occurs at the private or voluntary level.[2]
The first wave of regulatory actions in the 1990s in the United States came about in response to the profusion of sexually explicit material on the Internet within easy reach of minors. Since that time, several legislative attempts at creating a mandatory system of content controls in the United States have failed to produce a comprehensive solution for those pushing for tighter controls. At the same time, the legislative attempts to control the distribution of socially objectionable material on the Internet in the United States have given rise to a robust system that limits liability over content for Internet intermediaries such as Internet service providers (ISPs) and content hosting companies.[2]
Proponents of protecting intellectual property online in the United States have been much more successful, producing a system to remove infringing materials that many feel errs on the side of inhibiting legally protected speech.[2][5] The U.S. practices forceful seizures of domains and computers, at times without notification, causing affected websites to be unable to continue operating.[6][7][8][9] Some high-profile cases are Napster,[10][11][12] WikiLeaks,[13][14] The Pirate Bay,[15] and MegaUpload.[16]
National security concerns have spurred efforts to expand surveillance of digital communications and fueled proposals for making Internet communication more traceable.[2]
Proposed federal legislation that has not become law[edit]
Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA)[edit]
The Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006 was introduced but did not become law.[64] Two similar bills were introduced in 2007, but neither became law.[65][66]
The proposed legislation would have required schools, some businesses, and libraries to block minors' access to social networking websites. The bill was controversial because, according to its critics, it would limit access to a wide range of websites, including many with harmless and educational material.
Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA)[edit]
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act was introduced in 2010 but did not become law.[67]
The proposed Act caused controversy for what critics perceived as its authorization for the U.S. president to apply a full block of the Internet in the U.S.[68]
A new bill, the Executive Cyberspace Coordination Act of 2011, was under consideration by the U.S. Congress in 2011.[69] The new bill addresses many of the same issues as, but takes quite a different approach from the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act.
Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA)[edit]
The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act was introduced in September 2010 but did not become law.[70]
The proposed Act would have allowed the U.S. Attorney General to bring an in rem action against an infringing domain name in the United States District Court, and seek an order requesting injunctive relief. If granted, such an order would compel the registrar of the domain name in question to suspend the operation of, and may lock, the domain name.[70]
The U.S. Justice Department would maintain two publicly available lists of domain names.[70] The first list would contain domain names against which the Attorney General has obtained injunctions. The second list would contain domains alleged by the Justice Department to be infringing, but against which no action had been taken. Any service provider who willingly took steps to block access to sites on this second list would be immune from prosecution under the bill.
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)[edit]
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who requests the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. Many have argued that since ISP's would be required to block access to certain websites, this is censorship. On January 18, 2012, the English Wikipedia shut down for 24 hours beginning at 5:00 UTC (12:00 EST) to protest SOPA and PIPA. In the wake of this and many other online protests, Rep. Smith stated, "The House Judiciary Committee will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution".[71]
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and a key opponent of the bills, said lawmakers had collected more than 14 million names — more than 10 million of them voters — who contacted them to protest the once-obscure legislation.[71]
Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)[edit]
The Protect Intellectual Property Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA) was a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods", especially those registered outside the U.S.[72] The bill was introduced on May 12, 2011, by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)[73] and 11 bipartisan co-sponsors. PIPA is a re-write of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA),[74] which failed to pass in 2010. In the wake of online protests held on January 18, 2012, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on Friday, January 20 that a vote on the bill would be postponed until issues raised about the bill were resolved. Reid urged Leahy, the chief sponsor of PIPA, to "continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between protecting Americans' intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the internet."[71][75]
Court rulings[edit]
In April 2022, District Judge Katherine Polk Failla issued a site blocking order against three piracy websites, which were cited in lawsuits brought upon by a group of Israeli media companies, but whose operators failed to appear in court. The order mandates that the three websites, as well as any "newly-discovered websites" that are found to be operated by the defendants, be blocked by all U.S. ISPs. It also prohibits any third-party service operator from doing business with or offering services to the defendants, and orders that their domain names be seized and transferred to the plaintiffs. This order is similar to, but goes beyond what was proposed in SOPA.[98][99]