Regulating Online Speech

Ethics and Policy issues in Computing • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2008 • Tongia • http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~tongia/sp08/08-200/ 1

Regulating Online SpeechRegulating Online Speech

Week 3 - January 29, 31


AdministriviaAdministriviaQuestions about the quiz (plagiarism)?

•Questions about proper citations and avoiding plagiarism?

Homework #2 now posted http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/courses/compsoc-sp07/homework/hw2.html


Homework 1 discussionHomework 1 discussionHow would your life be different without

computers?


CMU Libraries (CMU Libraries (http://http://www.library.cmu.eduwww.library.cmu.edu))

Engineering and Science (a.k.a. E&S) • Location: 4th floor, Wean Hall• Subjects: Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics,

Physics, Science, Technology

Hunt (CMU’s main library) • Location: its own building (possibly 2nd ugliest on campus

behind Wean), between Tepper and Baker• Subjects: Arts, Business, Humanities, Social Sciences

Software Engineering Institute (a.k.a. SEI) • Location: 4500 5th Avenue • Subjects: “Security, Software, Technology”

Research and Communication Skills


Coolest Thing in CMU LibrariesCoolest Thing in CMU LibrariesPosner Memorial Collection at Posner

Center•Rare books• Early prints of famous works•Original copy of the Bill of Rights



START HERE: CameoSTART HERE: CameoCameo is CMU’s online library catalog

Catalogs everything CMU has – books, journals, periodicals, multimedia, etc.

Search Cameo online at http://cameo.library.cmu.edu




If it’s not in Cameo, but you If it’s not in Cameo, but you need it today: Local Librariesneed it today: Local Libraries

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh http://www.carnegielibrary.org/index.html

University of Pittsburgh Libraries http://pittcat.pitt.edu/


If it’s not in Cameo, and you If it’s not in Cameo, and you can wait: ILLiad and E-ZBorrowcan wait: ILLiad and E-ZBorrow ILLiad and E-ZBorrow are catalogs of resources available

for Interlibrary Loan from other libraries nationwide (ILLiad) and in Pennsylvania (E-ZBorrow)

Order items online (almost always free)

Wait for delivery – average 10 business days

Find links to ILLiad and E-ZBorrow online catalogs at http://www.library.cmu.edu/Services/ILL/



Special needs: Other Useful Special needs: Other Useful DatabasesDatabases

Links to these and many more databases available at http://www.library.cmu.edu/Search/AZ.html

Lexis-Nexis• Massive catalog of legal sources – law journals, case law,

news stories, etc.

IEEE and ACM journal databases• IEEE Xplore and ACM Digital Library

INSPEC database• Huge database of scientific and technical papers



And of course…And of course…Reference librarians are available at all

CMU libraries, and love to help people find what they need – just ask!



Bill of RightsBill of RightsFirst Amendment

•Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


The Internet can’t be censoredThe Internet can’t be censored

“The Net treats censorship as damage and routes around it.”

- John Gillmore


Cartoon dogs are anonymous on the InternetCartoon dogs are anonymous on the Internet


Real dogs are anonymous on the Internet too!Real dogs are anonymous on the Internet too!


Actually, none of this is trueActually, none of this is trueIt is easy to adopt a pseudonym or a

persona on the Internet, but it is difficult to be truly anonymous• Identities can usually be revealed with

cooperation of ISP, local sys-admins, web logs, phone records, etc.

The Internet can put up a good fight against censorship, but in the end there is still a lot of Internet censorship•Repressive governments and intellectual

property lawyers have been pretty successful at getting Internet content removed


Communications Decency ActCommunications Decency Act Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

Prohibited Internet distribution of indecent or patently offensive material to minors

Created restrictions for the Internet similar to broadcast media

Introduced by Sen. James Exon (D-Nebraska)• Cited Marty Rimm study• http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/6095/articles/cda/saga.html

Immediately challenged in court

Supreme Court struck down CDA in 1997 (Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union)


Opposition to the CDAOpposition to the CDA Over-broad, vague, unenforceable

CDA includes “indecency standard”• Obscenity and child pornography are already illegal to distribute (child

pornography is also illegal to possess)• Obscenity - Miller test:

Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,

Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law,

Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

• But indecency is defined in CDA as “any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other communications, that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs.”

What community do we look at when regulating the Internet?

Internet should not be regulated like broadcast

Law would chill free speech

Internet filters are a better solution


Support for the CDASupport for the CDASenator James Exon (D-Nebraska),

sponsor of Bill: Need to protect children from online pornography

Laws that restrict selling porn to children in other media should apply to the Internet

Filters are not sufficient• Parents may not be able to figure out how to

use them•Children may access computers away from

home


Platform for Internet Content Selection Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS)(PICS)

Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium

Specification for associating metadata with Internet content• Supports self-labels and third-party labels• Supports the development of many rating

systems

Implemented in MS Internet Explorer and other products


How technology tools workHow technology tools work

Person ortool classifies

content

For what agegroup is it

appropriate?

Is it educational?

Is it fun?

Tool takes an action

SuggestSearchInformMonitorWarnBlock

Internetcontent

WebUsenetEmailChat

GopherFTP


Who does the classification?Who does the classification?Third-party experts

Automated tools

Local administrators

Content providers

Survey or vote


Classification schemeClassification scheme

Good for kids

Bad for kids

Characteristics of content

Age suitability

Who created content


Rating systems and vocabulariesRating systems and vocabularies

Math Science English Spelling History French Spanish Gym ArtMusicDrama

ABB+D-CA-FA+B-CB


Descriptive versus subjectiveDescriptive versus subjective

Manyvariables

Fewvariables

Subjective Descriptive

simple

complex


Can’t derive descriptive from subjectiveCan’t derive descriptive from subjective

Characters not well developedGratuitous sex and violence

?Bad acting?Boring plot?Bad script?Dull characters?Unbelievable premise?Unoriginal?Too much violence?Not enough violence?


ScopeScopeWeb sites

FTP, gopher, etc.

Chat

Instant messaging

Newsgroups

Email

Telnet


ActionsActions

Suggest InformSearch

Monitor BlockWarn


Mechanisms and interfaceMechanisms and interfaceLocation

Updates

Customizability

Other features


Where are the tools located?Where are the tools located? Personal computer

Server• LAN or

local proxy• Remote proxy

Internet service provider

Search engine

Web site


UpdatesUpdatesHow are tools updated?

•Manual updates required• Automatic updates•No updates required


CustomizabilityCustomizability Action

Allow and block list elements

Categories of content

Words and phrases

Time of day

Policies for each user


Other featuresOther featuresTime limits

Separate settings for each child

Protect parents’ files

Block individual words and pictures vs. full page or whole site

Explanation of why blocked vs. silent blocking


DiscussionDiscussionDiversity of tools in the marketplace is

important

Need for increased transparency from vendors about the criteria used to classify content


CDA SequelsCDA Sequels Child Online Protection Act (COPA) - passed in 1998

• Banned commercial distribution of material harmful to minors• ACLU challenged this law - Supreme Court has twice upheld

lower court injunctions against enforcement, back to lower court in October 2006

• http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/internet/onlinefreespeech.html

Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) passed in 1999• Requires schools and libraries that receive federal funds for

Internet access to filter out child pornography, obscene materials, and materials harmful to minors

• Upheld by Supreme Court in 2003

Many state laws• Most have been declared unconstitutional


Anonymous censorship-resistant Anonymous censorship-resistant publishingpublishing

The printing press and the WWW can be powerful revolutionary tools• Political dissent• Whistle blowing• Radical ideas

but those who seek to suppress revolutions have powerful tools of their own• Stop publication• Destroy published materials• Prevent distribution• Intimidate or physically or financially harm author or

publisher


Anonymity increases censorship-Anonymity increases censorship-resistanceresistance

Reduces ability to force “voluntary” self-censorship

Allows some authors to have their work taken more seriously• Reduces bias due to gender, race, ethnic background,

social position, etc.

Many historical examples of important anonymous publications• In the Colonies during Revolutionary War when British

law prohibited writings suggesting overthrow of the government

• Federalist papers


Publius design goalsPublius design goals Censorship resistant

Tamper evident

Source anonymous

Updateable

Deniable

Fault tolerant

Persistent

Extensible

Freely Available


Publius OverviewPublius Overview

Publius Content – Static content (HTML, images, PDF, etc)

Publishers – Post Publius content

Servers – Host Publius content

Retrievers – Browse Publius content

Publishers Servers Retrievers


Publishing a Publius documentPublishing a Publius document

Generate secret key and use it to encrypt document

Use “secret splitting” to split key into n shares• This technique has special property that only k out of n shares are

needed to put the key back together

Publish encrypted document and 1 share on each of n servers

Generate special Publius URL that encodes the location of each share and encrypted document – example: http://!publius!/1e6adsg673h0==hgj7889340==345lsafdfg

Publishers Servers


Retrieving a Publius documentRetrieving a Publius document

Break apart URL to discover document locations

Retrieve encrypted document and share from k locations

Reassemble key from shares

Decrypt retrieved document

Check for tampering

View in web browser



Publius proxiesPublius proxies

Publius proxies running on a user’s local machine or on the network handle all the publish and retrieve operations

Proxies also allow publishers to delete and update content


PROXY

PROXY


Threats and limitationsThreats and limitations Attacks on server resources

• 100K Content Limit (easy to subvert)• Server limits # of files it will store• Possibility: use a payment scheme

Threats to publisher anonymity

“Rubber-Hose Cryptanalysis”• Added “don’t update” and don’t delete bit

Logging, network segment eavesdropping

Collaboration of servers to censor content• A feature?


DiscussionDiscussionTechnology that can protect “good” speech

also protects “bad” speech

What if your dog does publish your secrets to the Internet and you can't do anything about it?

Is building a censorship-resistant publishing system irresponsible?

If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it….


For further readingFor further readingPublius web site http://cs.nyu.edu/waldman/publius.html

Publius chapter in Peer-to-Peer: Harnessing the Power of Disruptive Technologies edited by Andy Oram

The Architecture of Robust Publishing Systems. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology 1(2):199-230 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/502152.502154

Regulating Online Speech

Documents

Transcript of Regulating Online Speech