Some Americans Favor Restricting Free Speech 01:40 a.m. Jul 05, 1997 Eastern CHICAGO (Reuter) - Nearly one-third of Americans believe the First Amendment goes too far in guaranteeing free speech and nearly half favor government restrictions of speech on the Internet, a Chicago Tribune poll said. The poll, conducted by Market Shares Corp for the Chicago Tribune and published Friday, surveyed 1,001 adults and has a margin of error of plus/minus three percent. Of those surveyed, 27 percent said the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went too far in the rights it guarantees, 55 percent said the guarantees were about right, eight percent said the amendment did not go far enough and 11 percent said they did not know. The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, ''Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.'' On the question of whether the gonvernment should restrict the kind of material that can be transmitted on the Internet, 50 percent surveyed said the government should, 31 percent said it should not, eight percent did not know and 12 percent were not familiar with the Internet. The Supreme Court last week struck down a law that banned displaying indecent images on the Internet where they could be seen by children on the grounds that it violated the first amendment. On Tuesday, President Clinton outlined a largely laissez-faire policy towards commerce in cyberspace, but set as a goal encouraging technology development that would allow parents to screen their children from objectionable material on the Internet. On other free-speech related issues, the Tribune poll said 58 percent of those surveyed said radio personalities who use implicit or explicit sexual expressions should not be allowed on the air, 35 percent said they should be allowed and seven percent said they did not know. Regarding the rights of anti-government groups, 52 percent polled said groups advocating overthrow of the government should not be allowed to make their views known to the general public, 40 percent said they should and eight percent did not know. Asked, ``Should militia groups/white supremacists/skinheads/Nazis be allowed to protest in a community like yours?'', 49 percent said no, 43 percent said yes, five percent said some should be allowed, others not and four percent did not know. The poll showed Americans have more tolerance on the issue of abortion protests. Asked whether pro-abortion and anti-abortion protests should be allowed in their community, 64 percent said they should be allowed, 24 percent said they should not, seven percent said some should and some should not and five percent said they did not know.
