ch, for instance. As private corporations, these service providers have the right to expulse customers or to delete the content of their messages. VIII.Internet Regulations of Hate SpeechSo far, most Internet regulations are designed to protect children, making it illegal to transmit child pornography, for instance. However, some states have legislation punishing harassment and fighting words on the Internet. Two examples are the Connecticut and the Georgia’s Internet Laws, which respectively prohibit harassment and terrorist threats. These laws do not prevent people from having personal opinions, regardless of what they may be, but rather to stop criminal activity over the Internet. IX.Blocking Hate Speech: Filters As discussed above, ISP’s can chose to host or not a given Web site however, users can also decide for themselves what they want to be exposed to. By using a filter, they can deny their computer access to certain Web sites. The World Wide Web Consortium, an international computer industry organization, proposed a technology called Platform for Internet Content selection (PICS). These programs rate the content of a site based on various criteria, such as violence, language, or nudity and then allow access or not. These filtering software when used by private individuals or corporations, do not involve any governmental regulation and therefore do not fall under the First Amendment. But in the Communication Decency Act, the Congress encourages parents to use them, in order to protect their children. The use of filters in public places such as libraries or schools has, however, raised legal issues, since these governmental institutions are not allowed to ban constitutionally protected speech. They are only allowed to screen out threatening, obscene or libelous speech, but rarely hate speech. Most of the filters focus on screening out pornography, but some like SurfWatch, do block hate speech and prevent ac...
