by Leslie Harris and Jill Lesser

About the authors: Leslie Harris is the director of public policy and Jill Lesser is the director of the Civic Media Project at the People For the American Way Action Fund.

Editor’s note: This testimony was submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Terrorism, Technology and Government Information Subcommittee during hearings to consider adding prohibition of bomb-making instructions on the Internet to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

People For the American Way Action Fund (the “Action Fund”) submits this testimony to emphasize the importance of the First Amendment in discussions concerning government control of speech on the Internet and other online networks. The Action Fund is a 300,000-member organization committed to preserving the central values of the First Amendment by promoting...