Users' Perceptions of Internet Regulation

Abstract

Immediately after President Bill Clinton signed the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act, which included the Communications Decency Act—an attempt to censor the Internet of any obscene, indecent, or annoying communications—several of those opposing the Act initiated litigation to have the Act declared unconstitutional. These actions are the foundation for this study, a study that attempts to assess the perceptions of Internet users regarding the censorship of Internet-accessed material. Specifically, demographics of Internet users as well as estimates of their reported Internet usage per week were used to establish who, if anyone, feels the need for regulation of the Internet. Although essentially all Internet users in this study perceived the need for regulation of the Internet, it was those who used the Internet 6 or more hours per week that were more likely to see the need for regulation.