Internet censorship has continued to be a controversial issue with strong opinions on both sides.  Numerous laws have been passed in attempt to protect children from unsuitable and sometimes harmful material available on the Web.  However, while trying to protect children, activists argue, the rights and freedoms of adults are being stripped away.  

Below are a list of significant laws that have been passed and at times appealed and overturned.  

Child Online Pornography Prevention Act of 1996

Communications Decency Act (CDA)

Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA)

Children's Internet Protection Act

Neighborhood Internet Protection Act

Child Online Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (COPPA)

One of the earliest laws that was passed was the Child Online Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (COPPA).  This law amended the existing Child Pornography Prevention law to include material available on the Internet.   All computerized pictures of minors engaging in sex or morphed or computerized images altered to look like minor engaging in sexual conduct were prosecutable by law under this amended law.  Computers made it easy to alter pictures of adults to look like children, and violators are not technically breaking the law.  However, under this act, simple attempts to represent any type of pornographic material involving a child was designated as an illegal act. [4] 

Communications Decency Act (CDA)

The next significant act was the Communications Decency Act  (CDA) signed by President Clinton on February 8, 1998 and passed in June 14, 1996.  The law stated that

(e) Whoever...
(1) knowingly within the United States or in foreign communications with the United States by means of telecommunications device makes or makes available any indecent comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image to any person under 18 years of age regardless of whether the maker of such communication placed the call or initiated the communication; or
(2) knowingly permits any telecommunications facility under such person's control to be used for an activity prohibited by paragraph (1) with the intent that it be used for such activity, shall be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned not more than two years or both.   [5]

In other words, any person making indecent material available to minors was breaking the law whether they initiated the contact of not.  With the anonymity of the Internet, it is almost impossible to verify a users age.  It also left the vendor liable every time a child accessed his/her site.  ACLU immediately filed a lawsuit against this act alleging that the law clearly violates the first and fifth amendments. "The government may not reduce the adult population...to... [view] only what is fit for children."  The US Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional on June 26, 1997. [5]

Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA)

The Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) was signed into law on October 21, 1998.  It ultimately went into effect on April 21, 2001 prohibiting certain commercial websites to disclose, collect, or use information from children under the age of 13 without "verifiable parental consent."  Verifiable parental consent is defined as "any reasonable effort to ensure that a parent of a child authorizes the collection, disclosure, and use of a child's personal information."   Often called CDA 2, this law states that:

"Whoever, in interstate or foreign commerce, by means of the World Wide Web, knowingly makes any communication for commercial purposes that includes any material that is harmful to minors without restricting access to such material by minors pursuant to subsection(c) should be fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both." [6]

However this law still allowed children to access harmful sites created overseas since they did not fall under US jurisdiction.  Activists also argued that this law was unfair in that it laid all of the liability on the vendor.  After numerous appeals, the law was eventually overturned.[5]

Children's Internet Protection Act & Neighborhood Internet Protection Act

The most recent acts that have been passed are the Children's Internet Protection Act and the Neighborhood Internet Protection Act.  Both laws were passed on December 21, 2000 and went into effect on April 21, 2001.  These laws require that school and public libraries using federally funded computers to start and maintain a program to install censorship software in order to block access to certain websites.  Aimed primarily toward protecting children, activists are currently arguing that in infringes upon the rights of adults when this law is applied to public libraries. [5]