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Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
CONTENTS, #7.24 (Sun, Mar 26, 1995)
File 1--"Communications Decency Act" Update
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 14:45:05 -0500
From: ACLU Information <infoaclu@ACLU.ORG>
Subject: File 1--"Communications Decency Act" Update
March 23, 1995
A Cyber Liberties Alert
>From the ACLU
Senate Committee Backs Cyber Censorship, and Imposes Criminal
Penalties
WHAT JUST HAPPENED
The Senate Commerce Committee adopted late this morning a modified
version of the Exon bill, the so-called "Communications Decency Act"
(originally introduced as Senate Bill 314). Senator Slade Gorton
(R-WA), who had cosponsored S. 314 with Senator James Exon (D-NE),
proposed the amendment in Exon's absence. It was adopted on voice
vote as an amendment to the Telecommunications Competition and
Deregulation Act of 1995.
The amendment would subject on-line users to scrutiny and criminal
penalties if their messages were deemed to be indecent, lewd,
lascivious or filthy -- all communications that are protected by the
Free Speech Guarantees of the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution. Although protecting children from pornography is its
most often cited rationale, this is really a "bait and switch" with
your rights at stake. Note that the amendment in fact goes way beyond
child pornorgaphy. It's like the opponents of TV violence who first
said children should be protected and then made "Murder She Wrote"
with Angela Landsbury their number one target. Or like the censors
who banned "Huckleberry Finn," "Where's Waldo?" and even Webster's
Dictionary (it has "bad" words in it, after all). The Exon/Gorton
Amendment would invite active interference in the basic speech of
everyone using any telecommunication device -- simply because some
government bureaucrat somewhere thought the speech was indecent or
lascivious.
All senators on the committee had been informed that the Exon/Gorton
amendment would violate the Constitution, assault the liberties of net
users, stifle development of new technologies (many of which offer
greater choice and control by all users -- including parents), and
spawn expensive litigation -- while not succeeding at reducing access
by children to pornography. A coalition of civil liberties
organizations -- including the ACLU -- and numerous commercial
companies warned against adopting the Exon/Gorton amendment, which
originally would also have made all online service providers (in fact,
anyone transmitting an offensive message) criminally liable.
Some commercial companies offered Exon and Gorton language exempting
themselves from liability while still letting their subscribers be
prosecuted. Today Senator Gorton said that the amendment had been
modified to exempt those merely "transmitting" the message. The
amendment would, however, still cover anyone who originates a message
deemed indecent, lascivious etc.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Contact the senators from your state, and all senators on the
Commerce Commitee expressing your disappointment with this morning's
action. Thank Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Larry Pressler
(R-SD) for not including the Exon/Gorton amendment in his proposed
bill, and urge him to support action on the Senate floor to remove the
anti-cyber amendment.
2. Contact your online service providers and ask them what they have
been doing about this Exon/Gorton assault on your liberties. Some
providers are still standing up for your rights; others may not
have.Urge them, not to support any legislation that protects them, but
violates your free speech rights. Urge them to oppose the modified
Exon/Gorton amendment.
3. Contact all the other senators and urge them to support deletion
of the Exon/Gorton amendment when the bill comes to the Senate floor.
4. Stay tuned for further information and action items for both House
and Senate.
The American Civil Liberties Union is a nationwide, nonpartisan
organization of over 275,000 members. Now in its 75th year, the ACLU
is devoted exclusively to protecting the civil liberties guaranteed by
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, whereever these liberties
are at risk--in a bookstore, in school, on the street, in cyberspace,
wherever. The ACLU does this through legislative action, public
education and litigation.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Send your letter by e-mail, fax, or snail mail to:
Senator Larry Pressler, S.D.
Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
SR-254 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-6125
(202) 224-5842 (phone)
(202) 224-1259 (fax of Commerce Committee)
e-mail: larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov
To maximize the impact of your letter, you should also write to the
members of the Senate Commerce Committee and to your own Senators.
Majority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee
-------------------------------------------------
Senator Bob Packwood, Ore.
SR-259 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3702
(202) 224-5244 (phone)
(202) 228-3576 (fax)
Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska
SH-522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0201
(202) 224-3004 (phone)
(202) 224-1044 (fax)
Senator John McCain, Ariz.
SR-111 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0303
(202) 224-2235 (phone)
(202) 228-2862 (fax)
Senator Conrad Burns, Mont.
SD-183 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2603
(202) 224-2644 (phone)
(202) 224-8594 (fax)
Senator Slade Gorton, Wash.
SH-730 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4701
(202) 224-3441 (phone)
(202) 224-9393 (fax)
e-mail: senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov
Senator Trent Lott, Miss.
SR-487 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2403
(202) 224-6253 (phone)
(202) 224-2262 (fax)
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Tex.
SH-703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4303
(202) 224-5922 (phone)
(202) 224-0776 (fax)
e-mail: senator@hutchison.senate.gov
Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Maine
SR-174 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1903
(202) 224-5344 (phone)
(202) 224-6853 (fax)
Senator John Ashcroft, Mo.
SH-705 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2504
(202) 224-6154 (phone)
(202) 224-7615
Minority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee
-------------------------------------------------
Senator Ernest F. Hollings, S.C.
SR-125 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4002
(202) 224-6121 (phone)
(202) 224-4293 (fax)
Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii
SH-772 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1102
(202) 224-3934 (phone)
(202) 224-6747 (fax)
Senator Wendell H. Ford, Ky.
SR-173A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1701
(202) 224-4343 (phone)
(202) 224-0046 (fax)
e-mail: wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov
Senator J. James Exon, Neb.
SH-528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2702
(202) 224-4224 (phone)
(202) 224-5213 (fax)
Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, W. Va.
SH-109 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4802
(202) 224-6472 (phone)
(202) 224-1689 (fax)
Senator John F. Kerry, Mass.
SR-421 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2102
(202) 224-2742 (phone)
(202) 224-8525 (fax)
Senator John B. Breaux, La
SH-516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1803
(202) 224-4623 (phone)
(202) 224-2435 (fax)
Senator Richard H. Bryan, Nev.
SR-364 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2804
(202) 224-6244 (phone)
(202) 224-1867 (fax)
Senator Byron L. Dorgan, N.D.
SH-713 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3405
(202) 224-2551 (phone)
(202) 224-1193 (fax)
You can also write or fax your own Senator at:
The Honorable ______________________
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Senate directories including fax numbers may be found at:
gopher://ftp.senate.gov:70
gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/0/socsci/polscilaw/uslegi
Additional information about the ACLU's position on this issue and others
affecting civil liberties online and elsewhere may be found at:
gopher:\\aclu.org:6601
OR request our FAQ at infoaclu@aclu.org
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