Inc. v. America Online Cyber Promotions Inc. - Impact

Shortly after he issued his decision, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio adopted Judge Weiner's reasoning. In Compuserve Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., that court rejected a similar claim by Cyber Promotions, relying extensively on Judge Weiner's opinion. Thus, it is apparent that private on-line service providers are free to regulate the type of speech which is disseminated over their on-line systems without regard to the First Amendment. Given that other courts have struck down a number of different restrictions on Internet speech enacted by the state and federal governments, the courts are in large part coming to the conclusion that the Internet is best left alone to allow Internet users to police their own system.