National Internet Curfew Act

The **National Internet Curfew Act** is a law in Leland signed by King Leland IV on December 6, 2010, and it went into effect the same day. It extends the country's national juvenile curfew towards the internet and bans everyone under 18 years old from accessing the internet from 10PM to 7AM and imposes fines on those who violate the law. Parents who allow their kids on the internet between hours can be fined, arrested, and even jailed for 30 days and ISPs and gaming companies can risk sanctions if they allow kids to access the internet between hours. It was passed because the king was concerned that kids were not getting enough sleep at night, and they were doing poorly in schools because of it, and many business owners and even sheriff's offices have complained that juveniles would still be outside in spite of enforcing public curfews, which have already been around since the 1980's.

On November 8, 2011, the same day the country's national daytime curfew went into effect, another amendment was added to extend the daytime curfew towards the internet and restrict access to non-educational content. However, this also caused massive outrage and a week-long internet blackout was implemented to quell protests over it. Many citizens were enraged in only being able to access educational content during the day and condemned the amendment as purely authoritarian. On November 20, 2011, 12 days after the implementation of this rule, the government modified the daytime curfew to only affect school computers, as well as electronics knowingly used by juveniles.

## Criticism

King Leland enacted the law to prevent kids from organizing congregations through social media and potentially cause trouble by breaking the mandatory public curfews and to combat gaming and social media addiction. The law, however, was not passed without controversy.

Many juveniles, ISPs, and gaming companies have protested against the law stating that it has an adverse effect on parental rights, and some legal attorneys and certain sheriff's offices in Leland even agreed with them, calling for changes to be made to the law. A lawsuit was filed against the king by an Internet Service Provider for such law being passed, stating that it is the responsibility of the parents to enforce internet curfews on their own and not something for the government to do.

The appeal however was rejected by the government and King Leland IV refuted these claims because children need to get the proper sleep they need before school and that the law does not violate parental rights because internet addiction is detrimental to their health. He also stated that parental rights are not absolute, and that the government can take partial or full control over families in dangerous situations. If the law had not been passed, then internet addiction could have gotten far worse and sleep apnea would rise sharply, which was why the law was enacted.

### 2016 Lawsuit

On May 12, 2016, more than five years after the law was passed, another ISP called for the government to abolish the law, but it was also rejected as the law is necessary in keeping kids safe from the web and ensuring that they get the proper sleep at night. The king criticized this lawsuit as an attempt at trying to Americanize the country.

On June 8, 2016, the government loosened the internet curfew from 11pm to 6am on weekends, but the public curfew would remain the same, and the internet curfew for weekdays would stay the same.

## Documented Cases

Since the law was passed, there have been a recorded 5,382 citations for internet curfew violations, and 2,504 parents were arrested for intentionally allowing their kids online after curfew between December 2010 and December 2012 alone. However, only two of these arrests actually gained international attention.