With the internet changing constantly every day the United States Congress are implementing many legislative acts to address concerns with the usage of different kinds of technology. There are many advances in information technology that resulted in ethical issues such as the creation of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) which was put into law in the year of 2000 by Congress. This law addresses any concerns about access to offensive content on the internet in the schools and libraries. Children and teenagers are exposed to the internet daily in schools, public, and at home. The internet can expose children to inappropriate material and predators online. The schools and libraries must enforce an Internet safety policy that contains protection measures, which block or filter the internet access to images that are obscene, child pornography, and what is harmful to minors. The main purpose of the act is to protect children from the dangers that the internet has ("Federal Communications Commission", n.d.).
The No Electronic Theft (NET) Act was enacted by Congress in 1997 to help prosecute of copyright violations on the internet. It makes it a federal crime to copy, distribute, and share copies of electronic works that are copyrighted, such as movies, games, and music. Also applicable in means of making copyrighted material available over networks. Before this Act was passed people who purposely distributed copied software over the internet did not face criminal penalties if they didn’t make profit off of it. Violation of the electronic copyrighting will carry out a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000 ("University Information Technology Services",