2012 State of the Net Conference Panel: Reno vs. ACLU 15 Years Later
Channel: Congressional Internet Caucus Academy
Date: 2012-01-20

2012 State of the Net Conference
Washington Hyatt Capitol Hill
January 17-18, 2012

Reno vs. ACLU 15 Years Later - Has the Era of Government Media and Communications Content Regulation Come to an End?
Panelists:
- Robert Cannon, Federal Communications Commission (moderator)
- Catherine Crump, Staff Attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project
- Dan Isett, Director of Public Policy, Parents Television Counsel
- Jeff McIntyre, Director - National Policy, Children Now
- Adam Thierer, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University

It has been 15 years since the Supreme Court ruled the Communications Decency Act (CDA) unconstitutional. The intervening years have yielded significant challenges and changes to the government's ability to regulate media content and communications. The judiciary has made limited regulatory and legislative efforts to control content across various media and the current state of government authority to regulate is unclear. The Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which came after the CDA, was eventually overturned by Ashcroft v. ACLU. Yet the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which restricts federal funds to schools and libraries that do not install Internet filters, has endured legal challenges. Several court cases have substantially affected the ability of Congress to regulate non-health related content on the Internet -- soon to be the most predominant media and communications platform. More recently, the Supreme Court rejected the California state government's attempt to regulate violent video games sold in retail outlets. Further, the broadcast indecency case, Fox v. FCC, is pending for the next term at the Supreme Court, but indications point to a limiting of even the FCC's broadcast content regulatory authority. Our diverse panel of experts will debate and discuss the present state and future of media and Internet content regulation by the US Government.