PROVIDENCE – C. Alexander Chiulli was prominently featured in the Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly article, “Providence lawyer hopes new law fosters more balanced internet-filtering for schools,” related to new state legislation that seeks to alleviate concerns by library organizations, school districts and teachers that the federal Children’s Internet Protection Act creates too many limitations on content and speech.
The Children’s Internet Protection Act requires that schools and libraries filter or block material that is obscene, pornographic or harmful to minors. Though done with good intention, the blocking or filtering has become too broad-sweeping as a result of the technology in place. “This law is an attempt to move the decision-making on the filtering away from software, and away from sweeping keyword terms and conclusions, into a place where it’s much more nuanced and considered,” Alex notes. “It [the new law] provides a framework for the state’s education department and school districts and teachers to work together to find a more practical and balanced solution to what type of content is available.”
Alex is an associate at Barton Gilman, focusing his practice on a wide array of civil litigation matters, with a concentration on intellectual property, Internet law, privacy and information law, entrepreneurship, and First Amendment issues. He received his J.D. from Suffolk Law in 2013 as an Intellectual Property Concentration Graduate with Distinction, and received the Stanley W. Sokoloff Intellectual Property Award. Alex has since presented at Suffolk Law on the topic of “Ethics in Practice: The Distinction between Morals, Ethics, Policy, Rules, and Law.” He has authored a “practice pointer” section in Global Internet Law (West 2013), and a Global Internet Law in a Nutshell (West 2012).
About Barton Gilman
Barton Gilman is one of New England’s leading civil litigation law firms with offices in Boston and Providence. Its experienced trial attorneys appear regularly in the federal and state courts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Providence Business News has named the firm a 2016 Rhode Island Best Places to Work, marking the eighth time it has received the recognition in the past decade.
