Three newbies provide a primer for the Internet

Article Abstract:

Judges from the Philadelphia Federal District Court not only declared the Telecommunications Decency Act unconstitutional, they also noted ways for people to block access to materials that individuals find offensive. The judges, Dolores Sloviter, Stewart Dalzell and Ronald Buckwalter, noted in their Finding of Fact that it was technically impractical and unworkable to try to regulate the Internet. Instead, the Finding, which is the second piece of a three-part court order, suggests that users employ software filters on their personal computers and that the voluntary rating system Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) be widely adopted. PICS already has endorsements from the major players in the online world, and it works by allowing users to access only those sites that post a rating indicating the presence of violence, sex and similar criteria. The software filters work by allowing users to prevent access to a specific set of sites.

Laws, regulations and rules, Telecommunications regulations, Government communications regulation, Transcript, Censorship, Censorship issue

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A posting on Internet is ruled to be illegal

Article Abstract:

Federal Judge Leonie M. Brinkema rules that Arnaldo P. Lerma's Internet posting of confidential material from the Church of Scientology violates the Church's copyrights, despite the fact that the documents came from public court records. Brinkema's ruling states that Lerma's posting does not constitute fair use because he did not add criticism, comment or make substantial changes to the material before posting it. The church wins legal fees and statutory damages. In a separate suit, the church had sued The Washington Post and two reporters for publishing part of the material in stories about Lerma and the lawsuit. Brinkema deemed the suit 'reprehensible' and said the newspaper had acted fairly. The church's case contends that the documents are trade secrets used to train the elite members of the organization, but Brinkema had already ruled in 1995 that the material was not a trade secret, although it could be copyrighted.

Cases, Copyrights, Patents, Church of Scientology, Patent/Copyright Issue

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