Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age analyzes the legal issues involved with communicating on the Internet, Godwin's motivation was to keep the Internet safe from government actions that restrict
freedom of speech. He asserts that the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution should apply equally to the Internet as it does to other media. The book's early chapters ground the reader in principles involving
cyberspace and the law. The author provides enough background that a layperson can understand the relevant legal history, including explaining
libel and the extent to which
copyrighted text may be quoted and used under the
fair use principle. Godwin explains his goal is "to show that striking a balance in favor of individual rights has always been the right decision for us and that it remains so even when technology gives us new ways to exercise those rights. Individual liberty has never weakened us; freedom of speech, enhanced by the Net, will only make us stronger". He instructs the reader on how to become proficient in dealing with
mainstream news media, writing, "Learn how to hack all the media. Then put that knowledge to good use". Subsequent chapters consider traditional challenges to broad free speech in the online context, including:
defamation,
sexual harassment, copyright and issues involving
privacy. He dismisses these issues as less important than freedom of speech. Godwin argues that individuals maintain latitude when communicating over the Internet because "it's far more likely that they'll do good than otherwise. This is because freedom of speech is itself a good. The framers of the Constitution were right to give it special protection, because societies in which people can speak freely are better off than societies in which they can't". The author discusses influential legal cases including a judgment involving
Compuserve, where the court ruled that the
Internet service provider should be deemed similar to a bookstore avoiding liability for publishing potentially offensive speech. He recounts
Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service which followed a raid by the
United States Secret Service in 1990 on
Steve Jackson Games and his involvement influencing the media relating to the incident. He cites the LaMacchia case, which dealt with charges of
copyright infringement of software subsequently dismissed. An incident at
Santa Rosa Junior College which involved issues of free speech and
gender discrimination is discussed and analyzed in the book. Godwin analyzes the effects of a 1995 cover story "Cyberporn" in
Time magazine and writings by
Martin Rimm that discussed the effect of
Internet pornography. He explains how the theories presented in the article were discredited. Godwin calls the incident following the
Time article the "cyber-porn panic"; noting how the magazine published a cover story on a purported pornography "study" and how he and others exposed flaws in the piece. He cites the
Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) as an example of U.S. government action which cramps free speech. Godwin describes the subsequent attempts to defeat CDA. The
Supreme Court of the United States held two sections to be unconstitutional and Godwin recounts how he became emotional over the decision. Throughout the book Godwin emphasizes that "the remedy for the abuse of free speech is more speech".
Cyber Rights puts forth the notion that "virtual communities" can be fostered on the Internet that serve the values of democracy, writing "The decisions we make about the Internet don't affect just the Internet – they are answers to basic questions about the relationship each citizen has to the government and about the extent to which we trust one another with the full range of fundamental rights granted by the Constitution". ==Reception==