ABSTRACT
The use of the Internet or the World Wide Web for communication, research, and commercial sales implicates several important questions for civil liberties. The Internet originally began as a Department of Defense project that was to serve as a communications tool for the military. By the mid-1990s, however, the Internet became subject to civilian control, and with the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the use of the Web dramatically expanded. The Communications Act of 1934 declared radio and subsequently television air frequencies to be owned by the public, subject to government regulation. This means that the government can subject television and radio to some restrictions. This regulatory authority was given to the Federal Communications Commission. The information available over the Web has made it an important research tool that is used in libraries alongside more conventional ways to gather information, such as from hardbound encyclopedias and books.
