by Joshua Micah Marshall

About the author: Joshua Micah Marshall is a freelance writer and the editor of a monthly newsletter on Internet law.

When the Supreme Court overturned the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in the summer of 1997, its decision seemed to put to rest much of the controversy over Internet free speech. But there are now a host of more limited efforts afoot to prune back the range of Internet content and limit access to various kinds of online material. Such technical innovations as “content filtering” and “censor-ware” make it possible for individuals, employers, Internet service providers, and others to block out selected portions of the online world. While the CDA’s criminal penalties for publishing “indecent” material made an easy mark for free speech advocates, these new forms of control...