EPIC is participating in the litigation as both plaintiff and co-counsel. Less apparent is the assault on privacy rights that the legislation, if upheld, will engender. These records would be accessible to law enforcement agencies and prosecutors investigating alleged violations of the statute. Such a regime would constitute a gross violation of Americans' rights to access information privately and anonymously. Two years ago, the Supreme Court upheld the right to anonymous speech in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission.
Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.
Whether the millions of individuals visiting sites on the Internet are seeking information on teenage pregnancy, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, classic works of literature or avant-garde poetry, they enjoy a Constitutional right to do so privately and anonymously. The Communications Decency Act seeks to destroy that right. If upheld, the CDA would render the Internet not only the most censored communications medium, but also the most heavily monitored. EPIC is confident that upon review of the legislation and its impact upon free speech and privacy rights in emerging electronic media, the Supreme Court will affirm the lower court decision invalidating the CDA as fundamentally at odds with the Constitution. Following the passage of the CDA in the United States, dozens of other countries followed suit and imposed restrictions on Internet content, citing the CDA as justification for their efforts at censorship.