(04 Jul 1997 16:57 EDT)

Some Americans Favor Restricting Free Speech

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 government 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.