- Connecticut: House Bill 6883 - Creates criminal liability for
sending an online message "with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another
person." 6/95 Signed into law.
- Georgia: House Bill 76 - Prohibits online transmission of fighting
words, obscene or vulgar speech to minors, and information related to
terrorist acts and certain dangerous weapons. 3/95 Signed into law.
- Illinois: Senate Bill 838 (began as SB 747) - Prohibits sexual
solicitation of a minor by computer. 7/95 Signed into law.
- Kansas: House Bill 2223 - Expands child pornography statute to
include computer generated images. 5/95 Signed into law.
- Maryland: Senate Bill 21 - Expands law that prohibits distribution
of obscene material to minors to include online transmission. 4/95 Signed into
law.
- Montana: House Bill 0161 - Expands child pornography statute to
prohibit transmission by computer and possession of computer-generated child
pornographic images. 3/95 Signed into law.
- New Jersey: Assembly Bill 38 - Expands child pornography statute
to outlaw "computer programs" that depict child pornography.
- Oklahoma: House Bill 1048 - Prohibits transmission of obscenity,
defined as harmful to minors, through online networks.4/95 Signed into law.
- Virginia: Senate Bill 1067 - Expands harmful to minors statute to
criminalize electronic transmissions of child pornography. 5/95 Signed into
law.
- Alabama: House Bill 100 - Prohibits electronic transmission of
obscene materials to minors.
- California: Assembly Bill 295 - Expands obscenity and child
pornography statutes to prohibit transmission of images by computer.
- Florida: Senate Bill 238 - Pornography Victims' Compensation Act.
Creates private cause of action for victims of crimes related to pornography,
including Florida's computer pornography statute.
- Maryland: Senate Bill 22 - Prohibits transmission of child
pornography by computer and sexual solicitation of a minor by computer.
- Massachusetts: House Bill 1804 - Adds "inducement by computer" to
the law prohibiting the luring of a minor for purposes of pornography.
- New York: Senate Bill 210C - Prohibits the online dissemination of
indecent materials to minors. 1/96 Approved by both houses, but not yet signed
into law.
- Oregon: House Bill 2310 - Creates crime of electronically
furnishing obscene material to minors.1/95 House Committee on Judiciary.
Reported unfavorably.
- Pennsylvania: House Bill 1727 - Makes it a crime to use a computer
network to transmit information describing the production of explosives.
- Pennsylvania: House Bill 841 - Prohibits pornographic
communications by computer to minors.
- Washington: Senate Bill 5466 - Prohibits electronic transmission
of material deemed "harmful to minors." 5/95 Governor vetoed the bill.
State Bills to Regulate On-line Speech
Published by American Civil Liberties Union National Headquarters (1/96 Update - http://www.aclu.org/). For information on how to fight on-line censorship legislation in your state, contact Ann Beeson, ACLU, beeson@aclu.org, (212) 944-9800 x788.
In reading about these laws one must remember that although most people
are against "obscenity," "hate speech," etc., they are hard pressed to provide
a working definition of these that would stand up in a court of law. This has
been somewhat manageable when using "community standards," but the Internet is
a special case. What is the community? Should people all over the world be
held to standards set in Saudi Arabia, China, France, Tennessee? These are
the questions behind the battles over Internet censorship that are being
fought here and abroad. - Ed.
If you think Congress is full of Luddites, just wait until you read what
your state legislators have been up to . . .
Bills That Became Law in 1995:
Bills Considered or Still Pending:
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