CDA

(1) (Compact Disc Audio) The compact disc file extension that is seen on the computer in Explorer or some other file manager. CDA files are actually pointers to the locations of the individual tracks on the CD medium. See CD-DA.

(2) (Communications Decency Act) A section of a telecommunications reform bill passed February 8, 1996, which made it a federal crime in the U.S. to send indecent communications to anyone or to allow minors to view any message considered offensive by contemporary community standards. After considerable protest by Internet Web sites and concerned citizens, the CDA was quickly abolished by a federal court and also the Supreme Court.

(3) (Compound Document Architecture) A compound document format originally from Digital that creates hot links between documents. See compound document.

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The “Communications Decency Act”, passed as section 502 of a major telecommunications reform bill on February 8th, 1996 (“Black Thursday”). The CDA made it a federal crime in the USA to send a communication which is “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent, with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person.” It also threatened with imprisonment anyone who “knowingly” makes accessible to minors any message that “describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs”.

While the CDA was sold as a measure to protect minors from the putative evils of pornography, the repressive political aims of the bill were laid bare by the Hyde amendment, which intended to outlaw discussion of abortion on the Internet.

To say that this direct attack on First Amendment free-speech rights was not well received on the Internet would be putting it mildly. A firestorm of protest followed, including a February 29th 1996 mass demonstration by thousands of netters who turned their home pages black for 48 hours. Several civil-rights groups and computing/telecommunications companies mounted a constitutional challenge. The CDA was demolished by a strongly-worded decision handed down in 8th-circuit Federal court and subsequently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court on 26 June 1997 (“White Thursday”). See also Exon.

CDA may stand for:

Associations and Businesses

• Canadian Dental Association, an association of dentists in Canada
• Canadian Dinghy Association
• Capital Development Authority, Islamabad, Pakistan
• Caran d'Ache (company), a famous Swiss fine arts products company.
• Child Development Associate, the CDA Credential awarded to those in the Early Care & Education by The Council for Professional Recognition to work with Infants, Toddlers, or Preschoolers
• Chinese Daoist Association
• Chittagong Development Authority, Chittagong Bangladesh
• Christian Democratic Appeal, a political party of the Netherlands
• College Democrats of America, the national organization that oversees the direction and day-to-day management of 1300 College Democrats chapters around the country
• Combined Development Agency, a uranium purchasing authority run by the US and UK government from 1948
• Conservative Democratic Alliance, a United Kingdom pressure group
• Copper Development Association, an industry association that defines copper standards
• Coram Deo Academy, a small private Christian school in Flower Mound, Texas

Other

• Child Detection Agency, one of the characters which deals with human contact in the Monsters Inc movie
• Coeur d'Alene, the largest city in northern Idaho
• ".cda", a filename extension for a Compact Disc Audio track
• Cda, the abbreviation for the orchid genus Cochlioda
• Completely Denatured Alcohol, the most heavily denatured alcohol
• Red Book (audio CD standard), Compact Disc Audio, the standard format for a CD
• Compress Da Audio, the first MP3 warez group
• Confidential Disclosure Agreement, another name for a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
• Congenital Developmental Abnormality/Abnormalities
• Continuous Descent Approach is an aircraft approach method designed to reduce fuel burn and noise
• Controlled Droplet Application: a concept in pesticide application
• Cellular Digital Accessory, a means to identify the software version of a mobile phonem.
• Chiral Derivitizing Agent, a type of chemical designed to react with enantiomers to indicate the enantiopurity
• Chlorproguanil hydrochloride-dapsone-artesunate, a new antimalarial drug that entered Phase III clinical trials in 2006
• Clean Dry Air, air that has been filtered and dehumidified to remove particulates and moisture so that it can be safely used in pneumatic devices or systems
• Clinical Document Architecture, an HL7 authored health care documentation standard
• The Cosmic Dust Analyser in the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
• Critical discourse analysis, a sociopolitically oriented approach within Discourse Analysis
• Criminal defense attorney
• Cytidine deaminase, an enzyme

Government and Law

• Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c.37)
• Capital Development Authority, Islamabad, Pakistan
• Communications Decency Act, a US law found partially unconstitutional.

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