Internet censorship in the United States of America is the suppression of speech, public communication, and other information, on the Internet in the United States. The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects freedom of speech and expression against federal, state, and local government censorship. However, the Internet is highly regulated, supported by a complex set of legally binding and privately mediated mechanisms.
Gambling, cyber security, and the dangers to children who frequent social media are important ongoing debates. Significant public resistance to proposed content restriction policies has prevented measures used in some other countries from taking hold in the US.
Many government-mandated attempts to regulate content have been barred, often after lengthy legal battles. However, the government has exerted pressure indirectly. With the exception of child pornography, content restrictions tend to rely on platforms to remove or suppress content, following state encouragement or the threat of legal action.
Intellectual property protections yielded a system that predictably removes infringing materials. The US also seizes domains and computers, at times without notification.
History The first wave of regulatory actions came about in the 1990s 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 have failed to produce a comprehensive solution. Legislative attempts to control the distribution of socially objectionable material have given way to a system that limits liability over content for Internet intermediaries such as Internet service providers (ISPs) and content hosting companies.
Websites shut down by the U.S. for violating intellectual property rights include Napster,A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N.D. Cal. 2000), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001)2001 US Dist. LEXIS 2186 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 5, 2001), aff'd, 284 F. 3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2002) WikiLeaks, The Pirate Bay, and MegaUpload.
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 US had "undermined confidence in the Internet and its own standards of security" and that "US 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".
Federal laws With limited exceptions, the free speech provisions of the First Amendment bar federal, state, and local governments from directly censoring the Internet. The primary exception has to do with obscenity, including child pornography, which is not given First Amendment protection.
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) was enacted in 1986 as an amendment to an existing computer fraud law (), which was part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The CFAA prohibits accessing a computer without authorization, or in excess of authorization. Since 1986, the Act was amended in 1989, 1994, 1996, 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act), 2002, and in 2008 (Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act). The CFAA is a criminal law and also creates a private right of action, allowing individuals and companies to sue for damages.
Provisions of the CFAA effectively make it a federal crime to violate the terms of service of Internet sites, allowing companies to forbid legitimate activities such as research, or limit or remove protections found elsewhere in law. Terms of service can be changed at any time without notifying users. Tim Wu called the CFAA "the worst law in technology".
Aggressive prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) has fueled growing criticism of the law's scope and application.
Communications Decency Act (CDA) In 1996, the United States enacted the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which attempted to regulate both indecency (when available to children) and obscenity in cyberspace."Communications Decency Act of 1996", a United States federal law, Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, In 1997, in the case of Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court found the anti-indecency provisions of the Act unconstitutional. Writing for the Court, Justice John Paul Stevens held that "the CDA places an unacceptably heavy burden on protected speech".
Section 230 is a separate portion of the CDA that remains in effect. Section 230 says that operators of Internet services are not legally liable for the words of third parties who use their services and also protects ISPs from liability for good faith voluntary actions taken to restrict access to certain offensive materialsmaterial that is considered "... to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected", from § 230(c)(2)(A) "Protection for "Good Samaritan" blocking and screening of offensive material", Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, Part I of the U.S. Code" or giving others the technical means to restrict access to that material.
Debates surrounding Section 230 intensified in the 2020s, with critics arguing that its liability protections enable extensive content moderation while supporters contend it is essential for protecting online speech.
Child Online Protection Act (COPA) In 1998, the United States enacted the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) to restrict access by minors to any material defined as harmful to minors on the Internet. The law was found to be unconstitutional because it would hinder protected speech among adults. It never took effect, as three separate rounds of litigation led to a permanent injunction against the law in 2009. Had the law passed, it would have effectively made it an illegal act to post anything commercial on the internet that is knowingly harmful to children without some sort of vetting program to confirm user ages.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Enacted in 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, ) criminalized the production and dissemination of technology that could be used to circumvent copyright protection mechanisms and made it easier to act against alleged copyright infringement on the Internet. The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) is included as Title II of the DMCAOnline Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, and limits the liability of the online service providers for copyright infringement by their users.
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) went into effect on 21 April 2000."Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998", a United States federal law, located at () It applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under US jurisdiction from children under 13 and details what a website operator must include in a privacy policy, when and how to seek verifiable consent from a parent or guardian, and what responsibilities an operator has to protect children's privacy and safety including restrictions on the marketing to those under 13., U.S. Federal Trade Commission, 7 October 2008 While children under 13 can legally offer personal information with their parents' permission, many websites prohibit underage children from using their services altogether, due to the cost and amount of paperwork necessary for compliance.
Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) In 2000 the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)"Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)", and - was signed into law.
CIPA requires K-12 schools and libraries receiving federal Universal Service Fund (E-rate) discounts or LSTA grants for Internet access or internal connections to: adopt and implement an Internet safety policy addressing: (a) access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet; (b) the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications; (c) unauthorized access, including so-called "hacking," and other unlawful activities by minors online; (d) unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors; and (e) measures restricting minors' access to materials harmful to them; install internet filters or blocking software that prevents access to pictures that are: (a) obscene, (b) child pornography, or (c) harmful to minors (for computers that are accessed by minors); allow filtering or blocking to be disabled upon the request of an adult; and adopt and enforce a policy to monitor the online activities of minors. CIPA does not: require tracking Internet use by minors or adults; or affect E-rate funding for schools and libraries receiving discounts for telecommunications services, such as telephone service, but not for Internet access or internal connections. require an internet filter that prevents access to video games, social media, etc.
Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) In March 2008, The New York Times reported that a blocklist published by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an agency established under the Trading with the Enemy Act 1917 and other federal legislation, included websites, so that US companies are prohibited from doing business with those websites and must freeze their assets. The blocklist had the effect that US-based domain name registrars must block those websites. According to the article, eNom, a private domain name registrar and Web hosting company operating in the US, disables domain names that appear on the blocklist. It described eNom's disabling of a European travel agent's web sites advertising travel to Cuba, which appeared on the list. According to the report, the US government claimed that eNom was "legally required" to block the websites under US law, even though the websites were not hosted in the US, were not targeted at US persons, and were legal under foreign law.
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) is intended to "improve cybersecurity in the United States through enhanced sharing of information about cybersecurity threats and for other purposes". The law allows the sharing of Internet traffic information between the US government and technology and manufacturing companies. The bill's text was incorporated by amendment into a consolidated spending bill,
Opponents questioned the CISA's value, believing it would move responsibility from private business to the government, thereby increasing the vulnerability of personal private information, as well as dispersing personal private information across seven government agencies, including the National Security Agency and local police. Some felt that the act was more conducive to surveillance than security after many of the privacy protections from the original bill were removed.
Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2015 (SAVE) The Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2015 (SAVE) is part of the larger Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. The SAVE Act makes it illegal to knowingly advertise content related to sex trafficking, including online advertising. The law established federal criminal liability for third-party content. One concern was that this would lead companies to over-censor, or to limit the practice of monitoring content altogether to avoid "knowledge" of illegal content.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)