Reno v. ACLU How Does Freedom of Speech Apply Online

Reno v. ACLU offered the Supreme Court its first chance to determine how freedom of speech would apply to the internet. The 1997 case found that it is unconstitutional for the government to broadly restrict the content of online speech. Fast Facts: Reno v. ACLU Case Argued: March 19, 1997Decision Issued: June 26, 1997Petitioner: Attorney General Janet Reno  Respondent: American Civil Liberties UnionKey Question: Did the 1996 Communications Decency Act violate the First and Fifth Amendments by being overly broad and vague in its definitions of the types of internet communications that it banned?Majority Decision: Justices Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, OConnor, RehnquistDissenting: NoneRuling: The Supreme Court ruled that the act violated the First Amendment by enforcing overly broad restrictions on free speech and that it is unconstitutional for the government to broadly restrict the content of online speech. Facts of the Case In 1996, the internet was a relatively uncharted territory. Concerned about protecting children from â€Å"indecent† and â€Å"obscene† material on the World Wide Web, lawmakers passed the Communications Decency Act of 1996. The act criminalized the exchange of â€Å"indecent† information between adults and minors. A person in violation of the CDA could be subject to jail time or up to $250,000 in fines.  The provision applied to all online communications, even those between parents and children. A parent could not give their child permission to view material classified as indecent under the CDA. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the  American Library Association  (ALA) filed separate lawsuits, which were consolidated and reviewed by a  district court panel.   The lawsuit focused on two provisions of the CDA  which prohibited the knowing transmission of  obscene, indecent or patently offensive to a recipient under 18 years of age. The  district  court filed an injunction, preventing  enforcement  of the law, based on over 400 individual findings of fact. The government appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Constitutional Issues Reno v. ACLU sought to test the governments authority for restricting online communications.  Can the government criminalize sexually indecent messages sent to users under the age of 18 on the internet? Does the First Amendment freedom of speech protect these communications, regardless of the nature of their content? If a criminal law is vague, does it violate the Fifth Amendment? The Arguments Counsel for the plaintiff focused on the idea that the statute imposed too broad of a restriction on a person’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The CDA failed to clarify vague terms like â€Å"indecency† and â€Å"patently offensive.†Ã‚  Counsel for the plaintiff urged the court to apply strict scrutiny in their review of the CDA. Under strict scrutiny, the government must prove that the legislation serves a â€Å"compelling interest.† Counsel for the defendant argued that the statute was well within the parameters set by the court for restricting speech, relying on precedents set by jurisprudence. The CDA did not overreach, they argued, because it only restricted specific communications between adults and minors. According to the government, the benefit of preventing â€Å"indecent† interactions outweighed the limitations placed on speech without redeeming social value. The government also advanced a â€Å"severability† argument to try and save the CDA if all other arguments failed. Severability refers to a situation where a court issues a ruling that finds only one part of a law unconstitutional but keeps the rest of the law intact. Majority Opinion The court unanimously found that the CDA violated the First Amendment by enforcing overly broad restrictions on free speech. According to the court, the CDA was an example of a content-based restriction of speech, rather than a time, place, manner restriction. This meant that the CDA aimed to limit what people could say, rather than where and when they could say it. Historically, the court has favored time, place, manner restrictions over content restrictions for fear that restricting content could have an overall â€Å"chilling effect† on speech. In order to approve a content-based restriction, the court ruled that the statute would have to pass a strict scrutiny test. This means that the government would have to be able to show a compelling interest in restricting speech and demonstrate that the law was narrowly tailored. The government could not do either. The language of the CDA was too broad and vague to satisfy the narrowly tailored requirement. Furthermore, the CDA was a pre-emptive measure as the government could not provide evidence of â€Å"indecent† or â€Å"offensive† transmissions to demonstrate the need for the law. Justice John Stevens wrote on behalf of the court, â€Å"The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship. The court accepted the â€Å"severability† argument as it applied to the two provisions. While the â€Å"indecent† statute was vague and overreaching, the government had a legitimate interest in restricting â€Å"obscene† material as defined by Miller v. California. As such, the government could remove the term â€Å"indecent† from the text of the CDA to prevent further challenges. The court chose not to rule on whether the vagueness of the CDA warranted a Fifth Amendment challenge. According to the opinion of the court, the First Amendment claim was sufficient to find the Act unconstitutional. Concurring Opinion In the majority opinion, the court ruled that it was not persuaded by the governments claim that software could be designed to tag restricted material or block access by requiring age or credit card verification. However, it was open to the possibility of future advancements. In a concurring opinion that acted as a partial dissent, Justice Sandra Day OConnor and Justice William Rehnquist entertained the notion of zoning. If different online zones could be designed for different age groups, the justices argued that the zones could be covered by real-world zoning laws. The justices also opined that they would have accepted a more narrowly tailored version of the CDA. Impact Reno v. ACLU created a precedent for judging laws governing speech on the internet by the same standards as books or pamphlets. It also re-confirmed the courts commitment to erring on the side of caution when considering the constitutionality of a law that restricts free speech. Congress attempted to pass a narrowly tailored version of the CDA called the Child Online Protection Act in 1998. In 2009 the Supreme Court struck down the law by refusing to hear an appeal against a lower court decision in 2007 that found the law unconstitutional on the basis of Reno v. ACLU. Although the Court gave the internet the highest level of protection in terms of free speech in Reno v. ALCU, it also left the door open to future challenges by ruling based on readily available technology. If an effective way to verify the age of users becomes available, the case could be overturned. Reno v. ACLU Key Takeaways The Reno v. ACLU case (1997) presented the Supreme Court with its first opportunity to determine how  freedom of speech  would apply to the internet.  The case centered on the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which criminalized the exchange of indecent information between adults and minors.The court ruled that the CDAs content-based restriction of online speech violated of the First Amendment freedom of speech.The case set a precedent for judging online communications by the same standards that books and other written materials receive under the First Amendment. Sources â€Å"ACLU Background Briefing - Reno v. ACLU: The Road to the Supreme Court.†Ã‚  American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org/news/aclu-background-briefing-reno-v-aclu-road-supreme-court.Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997) .Singel, Ryan. â€Å"Child Online Protection Act Overturned.†Ã‚  ABC News, ABC News Network, 23 July 2008, abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id5428228.

The Effects of Media on Adolescent Girls Essay - 1029 Words

Media has become a significant component within society. While media provides many pros, it supplies various cons as well. One very prominent fault that the significance of media has is its visual depiction of women. There is an abundance of media portraying women to have ideal bodies, and this undoubtedly has a negative effect on adolescent girls. Two of the many effects of media on females are depression and self esteem issues, as well as eating disorders. Unfortunately, body dissatisfaction caused by media is becoming more and more common. In today’s society, media is a part of everyone’s lives, whether people want it to be or not. One of the most openly disliked components of the media is the thin, ideal, hour-glass figure that is†¦show more content†¦Depression is when an individual has feelings of hopelessness and has very little energy to accomplish tasks; many people have tremendous trouble sustaining an interest in life. In today’s culture, girl s have become more depressed in adolescence compared to boys (Stice and Bearman). One of the major influences on why girls are frequently more depressed than boys, is that girls struggle to obtain the perfect body in their own eyes. Findings show that, compared to teen boys, teen girls have higher body shame. Fifty-three percent of adolescent girls reported being dissatisfied with their body after the study (Knauss). Low-self esteem, combined with depression, can potentially be very dangerous for young women. Furthermore, media surrounds teenage girls in today’s culture. It is impossible to escape the sight of media. The media’s constant idealistic beauty is ever present to a vast amount of self-conscious girls. This image of beauty causes girls to have low self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar). Media defining this perfect body image causes many adolescent girls to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and become depressed. â€Å"Viewing ultra-thin or average-size models led to decreases in both body satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescent girls aged eleven to sixteen, with changes in self-esteem fully mediated by changes in body satisfaction† (Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar).Show MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Media On Body Dissatisfaction Of Young Girls And Adolescents1214 Words   |  5 PagesThe media is an important aspect of the current society and is ever present to the public. With the creation of new technology, there are more and more ways the media can be rec eived and displayed for people to see everywhere they go. There are so many media sights nowadays such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as new magazines, commercials and other media publications made every day that allow people to connect to current events and new trends. 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Discrimination and Prejudice Free Essays

Discrimination is easiest explained through prejudice. Prejudice is when a social subject holds a preconceived notion about another person or a group of people, without judging from experience. Discrimination is when a social subject acts upon such preconceived notions. We will write a custom essay sample on Discrimination and Prejudice or any similar topic only for you Order Now A common mistake is the concept that both prejudice and discrimination are only negative, as in a derogative notion of someone (such as the treatment many minorities were subjected to), but, in truth, positive discrimination and prejudice are both possible, if there is a preconceived notion in favor of someone. Both of these notions are those of inequality, the difference between them being in thought as opposed to action of any kind. In fact, it’s possible to be prejudiced and not discriminate, out of such things as fear or profit, and it is possible to discriminate for the same reasons and not be prejudiced. Though, most commonly, it is those who are biased who discriminate, and those who are-non biased give equal treatment to their peers from different groups. There are three types of discrimination, based mostly on the level of social deepness. There is personal discrimination, which consists of any personal attack on a minority member, from slurs to murder. This is any attack on the personal level, any interaction of particular human beings. An instance of such an attack would be calling a transgendered human spawn of Satan. There is legal discrimination, which is when a minority group is denied any kind of rights – public institutions, jobs, housing and anything social, basically. Any person who has ever been denied a job because â€Å"blacks do not work as well as whites do† (without looking at the prior credentials) knows what legal discrimination is like. And, finally, the most deeply entrenched in society is institutional discrimination. This is when there is a tradition of discrimination so deep that it is no longer viewed as discrimination, where a discriminatory idea is so old and seemingly natural, that even members of the minority group themselves sometimes believe it. A great example is that â€Å"Romani are thieves†. Despite all cultural tradition, if this stereotype weren’t upheld by society, building walls on their side of the Romani self-chose seclusion, their way of life might have changed over the centuries, like it did with many other peoples. There are four basic approaches to the matters of aging within society. The first is the functionalist approach, otherwise known as social disengagement theory. It looks upon the withdrawal of elders from society as natural, since they gradually lose social power, and thus remove themselves from social responsibilities as to make room for youth in functional aspects, while retaining the ability to engage in activities of their choosing, such as hobbies, should they so desire. However, the activity (or interactionist) theory disputes the functionalist approach, by claiming that the more active an elderly person remains, the better their quality of life. They may disengage from responsibilities, but remaining active is necessary for a full life even in this age. Research supports this, despite criticisms that this may set unrealistic goals for the elderly. Their capacity for activity does lessen, but activity remains a basic need for happiness, and needs to be fulfilled, even in this reduced amount. But if the elderly are happier if engaged in activities, why do they disengage? Conflict theory states that, since profit is the driving force behind society, there is much pressure on the elderly to leave their positions, so that younger, less expensive and more competent specialists may be hired, the elderly losing social value as time goes on. This seems more correct than the subculture approach, which states that the elderly, while disengaging with those younger, form subcultures among themselves to compensate. While subcultures may be formed, they are not the defining factor for the disengagement, but rather, one of its consequences. And last, the exchange theory on aging combines all of these perspectives, by stating that the elderly remain active socially (and thus, happy) as long as their activity is beneficial to all involved. By â€Å"beneficial† they do not mean only economic benefits, but also the exchange of simple human feelings such as love, friendship and compassion, though some elderly people remain engaged economically (for instance, by renting rooms in their homes), and thus allow themselves the possibility of social interaction. This also includes the functionalist perspective, for it shows how rewards are given in return for past productivity. This is the most comprehensive approach. How to cite Discrimination and Prejudice, Papers Discrimination And Prejudice Free Essays Prejudice is a term which is used in most of our daily conversations and means unconfirmed or untested formed belief, attitude, opinion or knowledge held about an entity or a group and it is taken as truth by the person or groups who holds such opinion, belief, attitude or knowledge, (Honey, 1999). A typical example is the belief of the western countries that Africans are primitive and nothing good comes from them. This statement qualifies as prejudice since no test has since been carried out to confirm this claim even though most western community widely accepts it. We will write a custom essay sample on Discrimination And Prejudice or any similar topic only for you Order Now Another example to elaborate further prejudice is an opinion by Christian community that both Muslims and Hindus are sinners, not worthy of heavenly inheritance. The same is also the typical opinion held against Christians by adherents to other religious groups. This statement propagates prejudice since it is not true that following a different religious belief makes people bad. Final example in this category is the belief by a group of people that Muslims are terrorists. Is it confirmed? Discrimination on the other hand is a term widely used to mean a process of according unequal treatment or chance to different individuals, group of people, objects or events based on the views held on them. In this case therefore, the factors about which positive view(s) is/are held have higher probability of being given favorable treatment as opposed to those factors about which negative attitudes are held. By the same token, to discriminate refers to an act of giving unequal treatment to an entity or group with presume similar characteristics, (Cochran, 1999). For instance, the belief that Africans are primitive may influence someone from western countries to prefer an American as his/her personal doctor over an African medical specialist. A faithful Christian is most is likely to appreciate neither Hindu nor Islamic faith and vise versa. Finally, most Muslims may not be given visa to most countries as other nationals have access to this document with ease. It therefore follows that discrimination and prejudice are two interrelated words with prejudice possibly resulting to discrimination How to cite Discrimination And Prejudice, Papers

Macro and Micro Economics free essay sample

Micro Economics:- Microeconomics is a branch of economics that analyzes the market behavior of individual consumers and firms in an attempt to understand the decision-making process of firms and households. It is concerned with the interaction between individual buyers and sellers and the factors that influence the choices made by buyers and sellers. In particular, microeconomics focuses on patterns of supply and demand and the determination of price and output in individual markets (e. g. coffee industry). Areas microeconomics covers: ?Supply and demand ?Competition ?Monopolies ?Profit and loss ?Opportunity cost Elasticity †¢Rigid laws:- Businesses may be doomed to be non starters due to restrictive business environment which may take the form of rigid government laws ( no polluting industry can ever be located in around 50 Km radius of the Taj) , state of competition ( Car manufacturing capacity presently in the country is far in excess of demand) etc. †¢Environment impac t:- The present and future viability of an enterprise is impacted by the environment For eg no TV manufacturer can be expected to survive by making only BW television sets when consumer preference has clearly shifted to color television sets. We will write a custom essay sample on Macro and Micro Economics or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Key Inputs:- The availability of all key inputs like skilled labor , trained managers, raw materials, electricity, transportation, fuel etc are a factor of the business environment. †¢Public awareness:- Increasing public awareness of the negative aspects of certain industries like hand woven carpets (use of child labor ) , pesticides (damage to environment in the form of chemical residues in groundwater), plastic bags (choking of sewer lines) have resulted in the slow decline of some industries. †¢The Market:- Organizations closely monitor their customer markets in order to adjust to changing tastes and preferences. A market is people or organizations with wants to satisfy, money to spend, and the willingness to spend it. Each target market has distinct needs, which need to be monitored. It is imperative for an organization to know their customers, how to reach them and when customers needs change in order to adjust its marketing efforts accordingly. The market is the focal point for all marketing decisions in an organization. †¢Marketing Intermediaries:- Physical distribution firms help the organization to stock and move products from their points of origin to their destinations. Warehouses store and protect the goods before they move to the next destination. Marketing service agencies help the organization target and promote its products and include marketing research firms, advertising agencies, and media firms. Financial intermediaries help finance transactions and insure against risks and include banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. Macro Economics:- Macroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of the entire economy. This includes a national, regional, or global economy. Macroeconomists study aggregated indicators such as GDP, unemployment rates, and price indices to understand how the whole economy functions. In Macroeconomics there are two areas of research that are emblematic of the discipline: the attempt to understand the causes and consequences of short-run fluctuations in national income (the business cycle), and the attempt to understand the determinants of long-run economic growth (increases in national income). Areas of macroeconomics covers: ?Money supply ?Interest rates ?Fiscal and monetary policy ?Unemployment ?Growth ?Inflation ?Inflation:- In recent years, a confluence of macroeconomic and industry-specific factors has led to record-high prices and unprecedented volatility in the global agricultural commodity markets. Specifically, simultaneous increases in demand and production costs along with intensifying supply-side pressures have led many experts to forecast extended periods of higher-than-average prices for many commodities. Farm-based commodities have recently experienced unprecedented growth in demand from both traditional and non-traditional sources. Traditional demand has increased primarily via worldwide population growth. The world’s population currently exceeds 6. 5 billion, is projected to reach nearly 9. 5 billion by 2050. Increases in demand have also been driven by global industrialization’s positive effect on disposable income in emerging economies like China and India. As a result, citizens of these countries have begun to shift away from the grain-centric diet of developing countries to the protein-rich diet common to countries with higher per capita GDP. Because, on average, one pound of protein requires nearly seven pounds of grain to produce, the increase in demand for meat has a large multiplier effect on the demand for grain. Moreover, increased globalization, free trade, and currency exchange considerations have increased agriculture-based exports from producing countries like the U. S. Canada, and Australia, as well as Europe and South America, which has increased competition and intensified demand on a global scale. In addition to traditional food-related demand, coarse grains such as corn, sorghum, barley, oats, and rye and edible oils and edible oil products have experienced exponential demand growth due to the rapidly expanding biofuels initiative in the United States, Brazil, and the European Union. The World Bank estimated that nearly all of the increase in global corn production between 2004-2007 was used for biofuels production in the United States. Moreover, as evidenced by Congress’s recent mandate to increase domestic ethanol production nearly five-fold by 2022, the biofuels component of agricultural commodity demand is not likely to decline in the near, or even intermediate, future. Most agricultural commodities are also experiencing significant supply-side pressure from a variety of sources. Recently, the global supply of agricultural commodities has been severely affected by unfavorable weather conditions (e. g. , droughts, flooding, and freezes) in several regions, including the U. S. , Europe, Canada, Argentina, Ukraine, and Russia. As a result, global stockpiles of agricultural commodities have fallen to their lowest levels in many years. At the same time, increased competition for productive crop land and the reconfiguration of planting decisions to maximize returns from biofuels-related plantings (e. g. , corn and soybeans) have drastically affected the supplies of most agriculture commodities. Significant increases in production costs, led by record oil and fertilizer prices, and increasing scarcity of productive farmland and sufficient and accessible water supplies have further contributed to limits on worldwide production capacity. Finally, political unrest in producing countries has slowed or stopped production on otherwise physically productive land, further tightening supplies. Unlike many other commodities, agricultural commodities are crucial to the survival of nations. In a recent study, researchers concluded that nearly 60 percent of all global conflicts over the past two decades have been primarily driven by disputes related to food, land, or water. Recent spikes in food prices have lead to food smuggling in some countries and riots in others. Because of the universal necessity for food and the irreplaceable role that agricultural commodities have in worldwide food production, market analysts, including the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) predict that â€Å"when commodity supplies eventually recover and prices moderate from current high levels, the new equilibrium prices will be significantly higher than has traditionally been observed during periods of market balance. † As summarized in the table below, even when the volatility is removed from short-term prices, long-run ommodity price projections forecast equilibrium prices for most major crops that are 19 to 110 percent higher than their recent five-year average. The preceding analysis suggests agribusiness and agricultural-related firms may present interesting investment opportunities. Companies with operations and/or substantial investments in one or more key grain producing nations, such as the U. S. , Canada, Europe, Russia, Brazil, an d China, may be favorable over countries operating primarily in resource poor nations. Companies with significant command over their supply chain are likely to display significant operating advantages, but because of the capital-intensive nature of the industry, especially for companies with significant supply chain investment, firms with low debt, good credit rating, and/or relatively easy access to credit markets are preferred in light of current global economic conditions. Moreover, any company with significant supply chain investment should be providing logistical synergies and optimizing efficient operation of all its assets. In particular, companies that invest in technology to produce more robust, more efficient farmland and crops may provide unique opportunities for investment in the short- and intermediate-term. In summary, although current prices and volatility may not be sustainable in the long term, the long-term factors affecting agricultural commodities will most likely result in an extended period of high, although not necessarily record, prices. As a result, investments in agriculturally-oriented firms appear to be promising over intermediate- and long-term horizons.