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** ** ** *** POLICY POST
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** ** ** *** June 6, 1995
** ** ** *** Number 16
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CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
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A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
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CDT POLICY POST Number 16 June 6, 1995
CONTENTS: (1) Sens. Dole & Grassley to introduce sweeping anti-indecency
Internet censorship bill
(2) Sen. Lott To offer amendment to strike 'Defenses' section
of Exon CDA
(3) Legislative Update -- Status of Exon CDA
(4) Text of the Grassley/Dole proposal
(5) Petition Update -- 20,000 + signaures in the first two
weeks
(6) About CDT/Contacting Us
This document may be re-distributed freely provided it remains in its
entirety.
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(1) SENS DOLE (R-KS) & GRASSLEY (R-IA) TO INTRODUCE SWEEPING ANTI-
INDECENCY INTERNET CENSORSHIP BILL
OVERVIEW
--------
Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) is expected to up the ante on Internet
censorship tomorrow by co-sponsoring legislation with Senator Charles
Grassley (R-IA). The proposal to be offered by the Senate Majority
leader and Republican Presidental candidate is more sweeping than the
Exon Communicatons Decency Act, and comes on the heals of his recent
attack on "sex and violence" in the entertainment industry.
The Dole/Grassley proposal represents an even greater threat to the
First Amendment and the free flow of information in cyberspace than the
Exon Communications Decency Act, now pending before the Senate (a vote
on the CDA is expected as early as tomorrow, 6/7/95). Senator Dole is
expected to announce his support for the bill at a 6/7 lunch hosted by
the anti-pornography group Enough Is Enough. The text of the proposal is
attached below.
Senator Grassley's staff has informed CDT that he bill will be
introduced as a free standing bill and NOT AS AN AMENDMENT TO THE
PENDING SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM BILL (S. 652). CDT hopes that
the Dole/Grassley bill will not be fast-tracked (as was the Exon
legislation), and that hearings will be held on the proposal.
The introduction of Dole/Grassley creates an even greater need for
support of Senator Leahy's alternative (S. 714). If the Senate rejects
Senator Leahy's alternative, it will pass either the Exon bill or the
even more draconian Dole/Grassley proposal, and the net as we know it
will never be the same again. To find out what you can do to help,
contact the Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) by sending a message
to vtw@vtw.org with a subject "send alert". Please also sign the
petition (URL and instructions at the end of this post)
SUMMARY OF DOLE/GRASSLEY PROPOSAL
---------------------------------
The Dole/Grassley bill would create new penalties in Title 18 for all
operators of electronic communications services who knowingly transmit
indecent material to anyone under 18 years of age. The bill would also
create criminal liability for system operators who willfully permit
minors to use an electronic communications service in order to obtain
indecent material from another service.
The Dole/Grassley bill would impose criminal liability on online service
providers, electronic bulletin board operators, as well as any other
entity that uses computer storage to deliver information to users,
including video dialtone services, cable television video on demand
services, etc. The degree of knowledge required to impose liability is
unclear, but it appears that an entity could be said to have the
requisite knowledge if it is merely informed by a third party that some
material on its system is indecent. The text of the proposal is
available below.
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(2) SEN. LOTT (R-MISS) TO OFFER AMENDMENT TO STRIKE 'DEFENSES' SECTION
OF EXON CDA.
Senator Lott is preparing to offer an amendment to strike the service
provider defenses from the Exon language already approved by the Senate
Commerce committee.
Analysis: Holding service providers such as America Online and Internet
access providers liable for the content on their system over which they
have no control will stifle the free flow of information in cyberspace
and create major business risk for the private companies that are
building the National Information Infrastructure. Furthermore, placing
criminal liability on service providers poses a serious risk to the
privacy of individual users by forcing service providers to monitor
communications in order to limit their own liability.
Status: Lott plans to offer this amendment when the on the Senate floor
when the telecommunications bill is being considered.
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(3) LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- STATUS OF EXON CDA
With the Senate telecommunications reform bill poised to go to the floor
this week, proposals to censor the Internet are proliferating beyond
just the Exon language. The most sweeping and threatening proposals
come from the Senate leadership and other Republicans. The provisions
of the Exon proposal that are already in the telecommunications bill
contain restrictions on indecent communications which would apply to all
parts of the Internet, commercial online services, and all other
interactive media including interactive television, etc. We believe
these provisions to be unconstitutional and continue to oppose them.
CDT continues to work with members of the Interactive Working Group in
urging support for the Leahy study bill as an alternative.
The Exon proposal now part of the Senate telecommunications bill still
poses serious risks to free speech online. The Exon proposal contains
restrictions on "indecent" communications, which could ban all
sexually-explicit communications on the Internet, along with all uses
of the "seven dirty words."
Analysis: CDT continues to argue that the indecency restrictions in the
Exon bill are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Status: Senator Leahy plans to offer an amendment to strike the Exon
provisions and replace them with his study bill (S.714) as an
alternative.
CDT continues to work with members of the Interactive Working Group in
urging support for the Leahy study as an alternative to the Exon bill,
which we still believe to be unconstitutional.
For more information, see CDT's Communications Decency Act Archives:
http://www.cdt.org
ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/policy/freespeech/00-INDEX.FREESPEECH
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(4) TEXT OF THE DOLE/GRASSLEY PROPOSAL
104th Congress: First Session.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Mr. Grassley introduced the following bill, which was read twice and referred to the Committee on ______________________________________
A BILL
To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to punish transmission by computer of indecent material to minors.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of American in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1: TRANSMISSION BY COMPUTER OF INDECENT MATERIAL TO MINORS.
(a) OFFENSES. -- Section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is amended --
(1) in the heading by striking "Broadcasing obscene language"
and inserting "Utterance of indecent or profane language by radio com-
munication; transmission to minor of indecent material from remote
computer facility, electronic communications service, or electronic
bulletin board service";
(2) by striking "Whoever" and inserting "(a) UTTERANCE OF
INDECENT OR PROFANE LANGUAGE BY RADIO COMMUNICA-
TION. -- A person who"; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
"(b) TRANSMISSION TO MINOR OF INDECENT MATERIAL FROM REMOTE COMPUTER FACILITY, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE, OR ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE PROVIDER.--
"(1) DEFINITIONS -- As used in this subsection --
"(A) the term 'remote computer facility' means a facility
that --
"(i) provides to the public computer storage or processing
services by means of an electronic commu nications system; and
"(ii) permits a computer user to transfer electronic
or digital material from the facility to another computer;
"(B) the term 'electroni communications service' means any wire, radio,
electromagnetic, photo optical, or photo-electronic system for the
transmission of electronic communications, and any computer facility or
related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such
communications, that permits a computer user to transfer electronic or
digital material from the service to another computer; and,
"(C) the term 'electronic bulletin board service' means a computer
system, regardless of whether operated for commercial purposes, that
exists primarily to provide remote or on-site users with digital images
or that exists primarily to permit remote or on-site users to
participatein or create on-line discussion groups or conferences.
"(2) TRANSMISSION BY REMOTE COMPUTER FACILITY
OPERATOR, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE
PROVIDER, OR ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE PROVIDER. -- A remote
computer facility operator, electronic commu-
nications service provider, electronic bulletin board service provider
who, with knowledge of the character of the material, knowingly or
recklessly --
"(A) transmits from the remote computer facility, electronic
communications service, or electronic bulletin board service provider a
communication that contains indecent material to a person under 18 years
of age; or
"(B) causes or allows to be transmitted from the remote computer
facility, electronic communications service, or electronic bulletin
board a communication that contains indecent material to a person under
18 years of age,
shall be fined in accordance with this title, imprisoned not more than
5 years, or both.
"(3) PERMITTING ACCESS BY MINOR. -- Any person who
willfully permits a person under 18 years of age to use a remote com-
puting service, electronic communications service, or electronic
bulletin board service to obtain indecent material from another remote
computing service, electronic communications service, or electronic
board service, shall be fined not more than $10,000, imprisoned not
more than 2 years, or both.
"(4) NONAPPLICABILITY TO PARENT OR LEGAL
GUARDIAN. -- This subsection shall not apply to a parent or legal
guardian who provides indecent material to the child of such parent
or legal guardian."
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(5) PETITION UPDATE -- 20,000 SIGNATUES IN TWO WEEKS.
In the first two weeks of the petition effort, we have gathered over
20,000 signatures in support of Senator Leahy's alternative to the Exon
Communications Decency Act.
If you have not yet signed the petition, please visit the petition page
http://www.cdt.org/petition.html
If you do not have access to the Web, send a message to vtw@vtw.org with
a suject 'send petition' for instructions on how to sing by email.
The petition may be Delivered to Senator Leahy sometime this week, but
it will continue to be up to gather signatures until the House of
Representatives votes later this summer. Updates and a final singature
tally will be posted shortly.
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(6) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US
The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
organization. The Center's mission is to develop and advocate public
policies that advance constitutional civil liberties and democratic
values in new computer and communications technologies.
Contacting us:
To subscribe to CDT's news distribution list (to receive future Policy
Posts directly), send email to with a subject of
'subscribe policy posts'.
** NOTE TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY REQUESTED TO BE ADDED TO CDT's
DISTRIBUTION LIST: We are still working to build our listserv -- you
will beging receiving Policy Posts on this list very soon. We
appreciate your patience!
General information on CDT can be obtained by sending mail to
CDT has set up the following auto-reply aliases to keep you informed on
the Communications Decency Act issue.
For information on the bill, including
CDT's analysis and the text of Senator
Leahy's alternative proposal and
information on what you can do to
help -- cda-info@cdt.org
For the current status of the bill,
including scheduled House and
Senate action (updated as events
warrant) -- cda-stat@cdt.org
World-Wide-Web:
http://www.cdt.org/
ftp:
ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/
gopher:
CDT's gopher site is still under construction and should be
operational soon.
snail mail:
Center For Democracy and Technology
1001 G Street, NW Suite 700 East
Washington, DC 20001
voice: +1.202.637.9800
fax: +1.202.637.9800
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