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Alien and Sedition
The Alien and Sedition Acts were a series of four laws passed by the U.S. Congress in 1798 amid widespread fear that war with France was coming. The four laws which remain controversial to this day restricted the activities of foreign residents in the country and limited freedom of speech and of the press. -
Charles Darwin Origin of Species banned
Cambridge’s Trinity College banned this book from its library even though Darwin was one of its own graduates. From the books publication to present day, Darwin’s book about his theory of evolution has been the target of numerous challenges and censorship cases. This book was banned because it completely contravened the Christian religion of the time, and was thought as blasphemy. -
Shenck v. United States
This was a legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 3, 1919, that the freedom of speech protection afforded in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented to society a “clear and present danger.” -
The Communications Decency Act
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 mandated a federal prison sentence of up to two years for anyone who knowingly uses any interactive computer service to display in a manner available to a person under 18 years of age, any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image or other communication that depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs. -
Counts v. Cedarville School DIstrict
The School removed all of the books from the Harry Potter series from the shelves of school libraries. Students who wished to read the books couldn't without written parental permission. In the course of discovery, the School Board members said that they removed them because they exposed students to the "religion of witchcraft." In March 2003 they argued that the removal of the books constituted a violation of the First Amendment. On April 22, the judge ordered the books returned to the library. -
Reporters Without Borders
The United States was added to Reporters Without Borders, list of Enemies of the Internet a group of countries with the highest level of Internet censorship and surveillance. RWB stated that the U.S. has undermined confidence in the Internet and its own security and that U.S. surveillance practices and decryption activities are a direct threat to investigative journalists, especially those who work with sensitive sources for whom confidentiality is paramount and who are already under pressure.
