United States and Canada Overview
The Internet in the United States and Canada is highly regulated, supported by a complex set of legally binding and privately mediated mechanisms. Technical filtering
plays a minor role in this regulation. The first wave of regulatory actions in the 1990s
in the United States came about in response to the profusion of sexually explicit material on the Internet within easy reach of minors. Since that time, several legislative
attempts at creating a mandatory system of content controls in the United States have
failed to produce a comprehensive solution for those pushing for tighter controls. At
the same time, the legislative attempts to control the distribution of socially objectionable material on the Internet in the United States have given rise to a robust system
that limits liability over content for Internet intermediaries such as Internet service
providers (ISPs) and content hosting companies. Proponents of protecting intellectual
property online in the United States have been much more successful, producing a system to remove infringing materials that many feel errs on the side of inhibiting legally
protected speech. National security concerns have spurred on efforts to expand surveillance of digital communications and fueled proposals for making Internet communication more traceable.
After a decade and half of ongoing contentious debate over content regulation in the
United States, the country is still very far from reaching political consensus on the acceptable limits of free speech and the best means of protecting minors and policing
The Internet in the United States and Canada is highly regulated, supported by a complex set of legally binding and privately mediated mechanisms. Technical filtering
plays a minor role in this regulation. The first wave of regulatory actions in the 1990s
in the United States came about in response to the profusion of sexually explicit material on the Internet within easy reach of minors. Since that time, several legislative
attempts at creating a mandatory system of content controls in the United States have
failed to produce a comprehensive solution for those pushing for tighter controls. At
the same time, the legislative attempts to control the distribution of socially objectionable material on the Internet in the United States have given rise to a robust system
that limits liability over content for Internet intermediaries such as Internet service
providers (ISPs) and content hosting companies. Proponents of protecting intellectual
property online in the United States have been much more successful, producing a system to remove infringing materials that many feel errs on the side of inhibiting legally
protected speech. National security concerns have spurred on efforts to expand surveillance of digital communications and fueled proposals for making Internet communication more traceable.
After a decade and half of ongoing contentious debate over content regulation in the
United States, the country is still very far from reaching political consensus on the acceptable limits of free speech and the best means of protecting minors and policing