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The modest amount of substantial literature that this book contributes to is strengthened by the author’s work, as it partially fills an open space needing further consideration by both legal and communication scholars.
The early and well-developed chapters of this work lay out concisely the background for freedom of speech and the introduction of Internet communication in the 1990s. The questions that guided Barnett’s inquiry are justifiably explained to the reader, and a pertinent literature review and explanation of both the research procedures and method of analysis are presented. Before confronting the hate sites with a keen analytical lens, the readers are taken through a carefully presented review of pertinent First Amendment cases beginning with court decisions over charges of sedition to more recent times, when the doctrine of incitement prevailed in matters where issues regarding clear and present danger were on the dockets. The “clear and present danger” doctrine is traced through key court cases leading up to what is frequently referred to as the “doctrine of incitement” that emerged from Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1969. By turning to key cases and decisions, this book informs us of which federal court-adopted tests have been used to make decisions about the Internet. We learn, for example, about the meaning of “true threats” in public communication as seen in the shadow of “clear and present danger” issues. Of particular importance are the arguments over the Communication Decency Act (CDA) in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The CDA eventually was determined to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The author reminds us “by enabling virtually all persons to engage in the near-instantaneous access and dissemination of a seemingly endless array of content, the Internet has created a whole new set of challenges to free speech regulation.” For the reader who is less informed, this information provides a necessary introduction to the research and findings of the author. In this book, one does not get tangled up in complexities, as the author has drawn out for us the relevant ideas, issues, and decisions that our courts have struggled with. These struggles have been made in order to maintain a fair balance of the rights and liberties in a diverse society, in accordance with legal judgments about what is allowed per the U.S. Constitution.