The Communications Decency Act defined

(CNN) -- The Communications Decency Act (CDA) was a legislative attempt to ban the transmission of obscene or indecent material across the Internet on constitutional grounds.

When President Clinton signed the CDA into law as Title V of the Telecommunications Act in February 1996, thousands of Web sites turned their backgrounds black in protest. Many continue to display blue ribbons for the same reason.

A diverse group of plaintiffs quickly filed lawsuits to try to stop enforcement of the new law, including the American Civil Liberties Union, solid blue-chip companies such as Microsoft and Apple, and the American Library Association.

A week later, a U.S. district judge issued a restraining order temporarily blocking the indecency amendment on the grounds that it was too vague. But the government appealed that ruling, sending the case to the Supreme Court where it began taking up the matter March 19.

The CDA proposed to regulate the Internet with standards that are applied to broadcast media, rather than using the looser standards applied to print.

Critics argued the print standard is more appropriate because Internet users can exercise choice about what they view, whereas radio and TV signals flow out under less control by the consumer.

Opponents also said the act was too broad and unenforceable, and violated the First Amendment right to free speech.

The law barred the distribution to minors of indecent or "patently offensive" materials on the Internet. Violators faced fines and as much as two years in prison.

The CDA did not target obscenity or child pornography, which already are illegal.

Additional information about the Communications Decency Act

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