Brock N. Meeks

In the following viewpoint, Brock N. Meeks argues that the Communications Decency Act (CDA), passed by Congress in 1996 as part of the Telecommunications Act and struck down by the Supreme Court the following year, was too vague and broad to effectively control pornography on the Internet. He claims that the act would have restricted free speech by equating the terms “obscenity,” which implies sexually graphic material, and “indecency,” which is much more broadly defined and includes anything that anyone deems offensive. Therefore, according to Meeks, the law would have forced legitimate Internet journalists to censor their speech in order to avoid negative repercussions. Further, it would have threatened other types of free speech, such as discussions of birth control and homosexuality. Meeks is the chief Washington correspondent for MSNBC...