The First Amendment: Sex, Laws, And Cyberspace
A Michigan college student posts sadistic fantasy about a classmate to
an Internet newsgroup and is charged with the threat to injure. A postal
inspector in Memphis, Tennessee downloads a pornographic image off the Internet
and the California couple who posted it is arrested for violating Tennessee's
obscenity laws. A programmer's encryption software is duplicated by someone
else and sent overseas via the Internet; the programmer is charged with illegal
export of munitions. The three defendants in these cases felt that the First
Amendment protected them, but it was not the case.
Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace is precise in its opinion on the First
Amendment and defends every case presented ...
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decisions will be far-reaching. Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace examines
these battles and includes interviews with key players in both pro- and anti-
regulation camps. The authors offer a spirited defense of the freedoms now
under fire, and suggest ways to monitor the “net” without stifling it.
As an example the reader must look at is Jake Baker who liked to write
savage, pornographic snuff stories and post them to the Internet. Always
written in the first person and tinged with an eerie realism, his tales were
simple, explicit, and gruesome.
"She's shaking with terror as Jerry and I circle her. She says in a little,
terrified voice, 'Why are you doing this...I've never hurt you...p-please stop!'
I pause in front of her. Jerry smiles at her terror. He laughs at her pitful
pleas. I say, 'Shut the _uckup, stupid whore!' and hit the side of her head,
hard. She collapses on the ground, crying, curling up into a little ball.
Alright. Let's have some fun" (64)!
They ...
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“demons,” to relieve the tensions caused by a student loan he feared he
would lose, and to impress certain others on the “net.”
Without going into the details of this case, Baker was charged with
threat to injure. This was later dismissed because of his lawyer's appeal that
cited Whitney v. California. It stated, “Fear of serious injury cannot alone
justify suppression of free speech...To justify suppression of free speech there
must be reasonable ground to fear that serious evil will result if free speech
is practices. There must be reasonable ground to believe that the danger
apprehended is imminent” (81).
The other reason Baker's case was dismissed was that Judge Cohn looked
at the ...
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The First Amendment: Sex, Laws, And Cyberspace. (2005, October 25). Retrieved April 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-First-Amendment-Sex-Laws-Cyberspace/35451
"The First Amendment: Sex, Laws, And Cyberspace." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 25 Oct. 2005. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-First-Amendment-Sex-Laws-Cyberspace/35451>
"The First Amendment: Sex, Laws, And Cyberspace." Essayworld.com. October 25, 2005. Accessed April 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-First-Amendment-Sex-Laws-Cyberspace/35451.
"The First Amendment: Sex, Laws, And Cyberspace." Essayworld.com. October 25, 2005. Accessed April 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-First-Amendment-Sex-Laws-Cyberspace/35451.
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