Recent years have witnessed an explosion in exciting new forms of information technology. Most significantly, the Internet has provided an inexpensive, easily accessible method to disseminate information on a global scale. Unfortunately, this communications revolution does not come without a cost. The Internet has become a prime forum for dissemination of hate speech and ideology, as well as obscenity and pornography, all of which can be easily accessed by impressionable children and adolescents. First Amendment law has traditionally distinguished between threats, which lead to an individual fearing harm, and incitements, which although not directed at individuals may nevertheless serve as a catalyst for harmful acts. The Internet’s capacity for mass dissemination of information may lead courts to reexamine this careful balance. The Jewish community has generally championed free speech rights as the hallmark of a civil society that respects the views and liberties of all, regardless of their religious or political beliefs. However, in the face of violent acts of hatred targeting everyone from Jews to blacks to abortion and family planning providers, Jews will have a particular stake in the national debate regarding the proper balance to be struck between maintaining a safe and civil society and preserving free speech rights. In response to these concerns the JCPA’s 2000-2001 policy reexamination, entitled Free Speech Challenges in an Age of Cyber-Technology, will focus on these complex issues.

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