Pornography over the internet / across state lines

Topic area Freedom of speech
Target audience Undergraduate and graduate IS/CS/CE/EE majors in general.
Activity type Worksheet, reading assignment, Web page use, class discussion.
Time required This activity will generally take approximately one hour of class time. The average student's time for completing the reading and worksheet prior to class should fall in the range between 1 and 2 hours.
Attachments Worksheet 1
Worksheet 2
Additional materials
  1. The "Statement of Facts" section and the full text of the applicable federal law from the U.S. Code (18 USC 1465), from EFF's Virtual Amicus Brief page.
  2. Access to a Web browser.
Background needed to complete the assignment Students need to be given the statement of facts about this incident. They also need to know how to use a Web browser and a search engine to find out more about the resolution of the case.
References
  1. http://www.aclu.org/news/n041795.html
  2. http://eff.bilkent.edu.tr/pub/Legal/Cases/AABBS_Thomases_Memphis/Old/aa_eff_vbrief.html
Last modified August 1998
Abstract:
The thrust of this assignment is to read and think carefully about an incident in which a California couple was arrested and convicted for distributing pornographic pictures and text in Tennessee via a BBS. The American Civil Liberties Union asserts that it "is believed to be the first case involving the cross-country prosecution and conviction of computer bulletin board operators."

Goals for the activity:
This activity has two goals. One is to understand basic terms and laws related to freedom of speech. The other is to get students to explore whether their "gut" reactions to a particular incident will change as they obtain more information.

Knowledge / skills / attitudes to be developed (behavioral objectives):
Students should develop some basic knowledge about issues related to freedom of speech/expression and should think about how existing laws may be inadequate as technology changes.

Procedure:
The first reading (on the first worksheet) is very short. Give the first worksheet to the students and 5-10 minutes to complete it. For each of the questions, call on a student and ask if there are any different responses afterward. The class could also be divided into groups to answer the questions. The second reading (material from EFF's Virtual Amicus Brief page) is short, but longer than the first reading. The second worksheet will take the students longer to complete, and it may require that the students search on the Web for some of the answers. We suggest that the whole activity start towards the end of the class period. The students will complete the second worksheet outside of class. The questions will be discussed during the next class period.

Assessing outcomes:
We can grade the factual questions to determine if the student has done the necessary research outside of class. The remaining questions are subjective.

Additional remarks:
This activity was developed at an NSF UFE workshop on teaching ethics and computing. It was modeled after activities designed by Professor Kevin Bowyer at the University of South Florida. The case is mentioned in passing, without identifying the defendants, in Sara Baase's text A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing (Prentice Hall, 1997). This activity could lead to further discussion about the Communications Decency Act.

Author contact information:
Martha J. Kosa
Department of Computer Science
Tennessee Technological University
Box 5101
Cookeville, TN 38505
E-mail: mjkosa@tntech.edu

Page maintained by: kwb@csee.usf.edu