Information Technology Act Paper
Travis Hall
May 6, 2013
BIS/220
Dr. Moland

Information Technology Acts Paper

Pornography has been legally available in the United States since the 1970’s. It was controlled from being readily available to minors just by the nature that it had to be sold in a physical state (magazine, DVD). There was an adult involved the majority of the time providing it to another adult face to face. This was a very sound control. Then the Internet came in the 1990’s, children had unsupervised access. The porn industry went crazy; they would do anything to get anyone to their sites. Children were being exposed to it and it was deemed harmful. Congress tried to pass laws to stop it, but every direction they went was determined to be unconstitutional. Finally technology prevailed, to an extent. Maybe Congress could not pass a law that would penalize the distributor; they could pass a law that would affect the end user that received federal money. On December 15, 2000 Congress added the Children’s Internet Protection Act and President Bill Clinton signed it into law on December 21, 2000. The Act places restrictions on entities receiving Federal funding. They must use policies and technology that blocks or filters certain material from being accessed using the internet. ("American Library Association", 1997-2012). The Internet with all of its wonders was not only being used to show children imagery and information, the technology was being used to collect information. Parent who did not understand the Internet could not educate their children of the dangers and the appropriate uses. The children were being targeted. In March of 1998 the Federal Trade Commission presented Congress with a report showing that there was not enough protection for children’s personnel information. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act was put into law on April 21,