-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
_____ _____ _______
/ ____| __ \__ __| ____ ___ ____ __
| | | | | | | | / __ \____ / (_)______ __ / __ \____ _____/ /_
| | | | | | | | / /_/ / __ \/ / / ___/ / / / / /_/ / __ \/ ___/ __/
| |____| |__| | | | / ____/ /_/ / / / /__/ /_/ / / ____/ /_/ (__ ) /_
\_____|_____/ |_| /_/ \____/_/_/\___/\__, / /_/ \____/____/\__/
The Center for Democracy and Technology /____/ Volume 2, Number 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CDT POLICY POST Volume 2, Number 4 February 1, 1996
CONTENTS: (1) Congress May Vote Today (2/1) on Internet Censorship Bill
(2) Information About What You Can Do
(3) Subscription Information
(4) About CDT, contacting us
This document may be redistributed freely provided it remains in its entirety
** Excerpts may be re-posted by permission (editor@cdt.org) **
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) CONGRESS COULD VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE OF THE CDA TODAY (Thurs 2/1)
House and Senate members of the conference committee considering the
telecommunications reform legislation, which includes the Exon "Communications
Decency Act", are expected to give final approval to the bill today, paving
the way for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Thursday
evening (2/1). The schedule for a Senate vote is unclear, although a vote
before the end of the week is possible. President Clinton is expected to sign
the bill.
Even if no votes occur today, once the Conference Committee members agree to
send the bill to the floor of the House and Senate, no further changes can be
made.
Ironically, the possible vote comes exactly one year to the day that Senator
Exon introduced the original Communications Decency Act (Feb. 1, 1995).
Although significant changes have been made to the CDA since its introduction,
the proposal is still an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment rights
of all Internet users, and threatens to destroy the Internet as a viable means
of free expression, education, and political discourse. CDT is committed to
challenging this bill all the way to the supreme court, if necessary, to
ensure that these provisions are overturned.
The decision to bring the bill to a vote was unexpectedly announced late
Wednesday 1/31 after Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) dropped his
objections to provisions granting broadcasters fee access to new digital
spectrum.
Despite the objections of civil liberties advocates and the telecommunications
and computer industries, Congress is expected to pass the telecommunications
bill with the CDA intact. However, if you feel strongly about this issue,
you should continue to speak your mind. An Action Alert prepared by the
Voters
Telecommunications Watch (VTW) describing what you can do is attached below.
CDT will post an analysis of the final legislation, along with statements
from key members of Congress and other relevant information soon after the
final vote. In the mean time, for more information, including the text and
analysis of the latest proposal (Dec 21, 1995), see CDT's Net-Censorship
Issues Web Page (http://www.cdt.org), or send email to
______________________________________________________________________________
(2) TEXT OF THE VTW COALITION ALERT
========================================================================
CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION
(SEE THE LIST OF CAMPAIGN COALITION MEMBERS AT THE END)
Update: -Latest News: Congress could vote on Thurs (2/1/96) to
censor the Internet; passage is likely.
-What You Can Do Now: Call Congress and tell them
to remove the net censorship
language.
CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
Jan 31, 1996 (expires Feb 29, 1996)
PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT
This alert authored by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org)
________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
The Latest News
What You Can Do Now
Chronology of the CDA
For More Information
List Of Participating Organizations
________________________________________________________________________
THE LATEST NEWS
The Internet censorship legislation, bundled with the Telecommunications
Deregulation bill (S652/HR1555), would impose a speech standard on the
Internet of "indecency", dumbing down public discourse on the net to
only that which is appropriate for children. It could be voted on as
early as this Thursday, 2/1/96.
This legislation, available from http://www.cdt.org/cda.html, has changed
consistently for the worse despite the best efforts over the last year of
many public interest groups to bring it in line with the protections outlined
in the First Amendment.
Congress is poised to vote on Thursday, Feburary 1. We are not hopeful
that Congress will reject the behemoth Telecommunications bill on the basis
of the unconstitutional Internet censorship language. It is likely to pass,
or be cemented in stone to prevent it from changing in any way before a
future vote, should this one be delayed.
This is one issue that, despite the legislative efforts of the best civil
liberties representatives on the planet, will have to be resolved in court.
________________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
It is unlikely that even a massive public outcry will be enough to defeat
the Telecommunications Deregulation bill. We do feel that you should
continue to speak your mind however, and remind Congress that you are
concerned about the callousness with which they treat the First Amendment
in a medium they often have little experience in. Remember, no matter
how bad it gets this year, someone will probably introduce a similar
bill next year, and we'll need to continue to educate these people all over
again.
1. Call your Senators and Representatives and tell them you find the
net censorship provisions unacceptable. A complete list of legislators
can be found at http://www.house.gov/ and http://www.senate.gov/.
In addition, you can try looking up your Senator with the Zipper, a
service which lets you look up your legislator by entering your zipcode.
http://www.stardot.com/zipper/
Sample communique:
RECEPTIONIST
Hello, this is Senator Dongle's office. May I help you?
YOU
Congress is about to vote on provisions of the telecommunications
reform bill which will cripple the Internet as a viable means of
free expression, education, and commerce. I am outraged that this
proposal has made it this far. Please do everything in your power
to remove these provisions from the bill.
RECEPTIONIST
Ok, thanks for calling!
2. If anything interesting transpires during the call, send us email at
vtw@vtw.org so we can investigate.
$ Mail vtw@vtw.org
Subject: called Senator Dongle
I called Senator Dongle, and his staff says that they weren't
aware that anyone had a problem with the Internet censorship
language. Perhaps you should pay them a visit.
^D
Mail sent!
3. Sit back and watch the court challenge. We hoped it wouldn't have to come
to this.
________________________________________________________________________
CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
Jan 31, '96 The House and Senate prepare to signoff on the conference
report for the Telecomm bill and rush a vote to the floor.
Dec 7, '95 The House half of the Telecomm conference committee
votes the "indecency" standard for online speech into
the Telecomm Deregulation bill.
Sep 26, '95 Sen. Russ Feingold urges committee members to drop
Managers Amendment and the CDA from the Telecommunications
Deregulation bill
Aug 4, '95 House passes HR1555 which goes into conference with S652.
Aug 4, '95 House votes to attach Managers Amendment (which contains
new criminal penalties for speech online) to
Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555).
Aug 4, '95 House votes 421-4 to attach HR1978 to Telecommunications
Reform bill (HR1555).
Jun 30, '95 Cox and Wyden introduce the "Internet Freedom and Family
Empowerment Act" (HR 1978) as an alternative to the CDA.
Jun 21, '95 Several prominent House members publicly announce their
opposition to the CDA, including Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA),
Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Jun 14, '95 The Senate passes the CDA as attached to the Telecomm
reform bill (S 652) by a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bill
(S 714) is not passed, but is supported by 16 Senators
who understand the Internet.
May 24, '95 The House Telecomm Reform bill (HR 1555) leaves committee
in the House with the Leahy alternative attached to it,
thanks to Rep. Ron Klink of (D-PA). The Communications
Decency Act is not attached to it.
Apr 7, '95 Sen. Leahy (D-VT) introduces S.714, an alternative to
the Exon/Gorton bill, which commissions the Dept. of
Justice to study the problem to see if additional legislation
(such as the CDA) is necessary.
Mar 23, '95 S314 amended and attached to the telecommunications reform
bill by Sen. Gorton (R-WA). Language provides some provider
protection, but continues to infringe upon email privacy
and free speech.
Feb 21, '95 HR1004 referred to the House Commerce and Judiciary committees
Feb 21, '95 HR1004 introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-SD)
Feb 1, '95 S314 referred to the Senate Commerce committee
Feb 1, '95 S314 introduced by Sen. Exon (D-NE) and Gorton (R-WA).
________________________________________________________________________
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Web Sites (roughly in alphabetical order)
URL:http://www.vtw.org/
URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html
URL:http://www.cpsr.org/
URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
URL:http://epic.org/
Email:
files@vtw.org (put "ipcfaq" in the subject line for the Internet
Parental Control FAQ or "cdafaq" for the CDA FAQ)
cda-info@cdt.org (General CDA information)
cda-stat@cdt.org (Current status of the CDA)
________________________________________________________________________
LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
In order to use the net more effectively, several organizations have
joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the
Communications Decency Act.
* American Communication Association * American Council for the Arts *
Arts & Technology Society * biancaTroll productions * Boston Coalition
for Freedom of Expression * Californians Against Censorship Together *
Center For Democracy And Technology * Centre for Democratic
Communications * Center for Public Representation * Citizen's Voice -
New Zealand * Cloud 9 Internet *Computer Communicators Association *
Computel Network Services * Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility * Cross Connection * Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer
Lounge * Dorsai Embassy * Dutch Digital Citizens' Movement * ECHO
Communications Group, Inc. * Electronic Frontier Canada * Electronic
Frontier Foundation * Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin *
Electronic Frontiers Australia * Electronic Frontiers Houston *
Electronic Frontiers New Hampshire * Electronic Privacy Information
Center * Feminists For Free Expression * First Amendment Teach-In *
Florida Coalition Against Censorship * FranceCom, Inc. Web Advertising
Services * Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands
Off! The Net * HotWired * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle
Technologies, Inc. * Inst. for Global Communications * Internet
On-Ramp, Inc. * Internet Users Consortium * Joint Artists' and Music
Promotions Political Action Committee * The Libertarian Party *
Marijuana Policy Project * Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * Michigan
Electronic Communities of Concerned Adults * MindVox * MN Grassroots
Party * National Bicycle Greenway * National Campaign for Freedom of
Expression * National Coalition Against Censorship * National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force * National Public Telecomputing Network * National
Writers Union * Oregon Coast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet *
People for the American Way * Republican Liberty Caucus * Rock Out
Censorship * Society for Electronic Access * The Thing International
BBS Network * The WELL * Web Review Magazine * Wired Magazine * Voters
Telecommunications Watch
(Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities,
not EFF chapters or divisions.)
________________________________________________________________________
End Alert
========================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Be sure you are up to date on the latest public policy issues affecting civil
liberties online and how they will affect you! Subscribe to the CDT Policy
Post
news distribution list. CDT Policy Posts, the regular news publication of the
Center For Democracy and Technology, are received by more than 9,000 Internet
users, industry leaders, policy makers and activists, and have become the
leading source for information about critical free speech and privacy issues
affecting the Internet and other interactive communications media.
To subscribe to CDT's Policy Post list, send mail to
policy-posts-request@cdt.org
with a subject:
subscribe policy-posts
If you ever wish to remove yourself from the list, send mail to the
above address with a subject of:
unsubscribe policy-posts
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US
The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
organization based in Washington, DC. The Center's mission is to develop
and advocate public policies that advance democratic values and
constitutional civil liberties in new computer and communications
technologies.
Contacting us:
General information: info@cdt.org
World Wide Web: URL:http://www.cdt.org/
FTP URL:ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/
Snail Mail: The Center for Democracy and Technology
1001 G Street NW * Suite 500 East * Washington, DC 20001
(v) +1.202.637.9800 * (f) +1.202.637.0968
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
End Policy Post 2.4 2/1/96
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to the Publications Page
Return to the CDT Home Page