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Text File  |  1996-05-20  |  8KB  |  101 lines
  1. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  2. │                 AFA Continues to Demand Smut Investigations                 │
  3. │                                                                             │
  4. │                                                                             │
  5. │It's refreshing to detect the note of frustration that runs through the      │
  6. │latest press release from the American Family Association...                 │
  7. │                                                                             │
  8. │It seems the AFA is unaccustomed to having folks in Washington rebuff its    │
  9. │alarmist cries to "protect the children" by censoring free speech.           │
  10. │                                                                             │
  11. │But indeed, that seems to be the case.  The Columbus Dispatch recently       │
  12. │reported that the FBI *will not* launch an investigation of CompuServe       │
  13. │following the AFA's accusations that the service is "making pornography      │
  14. │available to children."                                                      │
  15. │                                                                             │
  16. │Of course, ol' Pat Trueman isn't giving up without a fight.  Having been     │
  17. │thwarted by the FBI, he's now whining to Janet Reno and some members of      │
  18. │Congress that not enough is being done to uphold his cherished               │
  19. │Communications Decency Act.                                                  │
  20. │                                                                             │
  21. │Other highlights:                                                            │
  22. │                                                                             │
  23. │-- The AFA asserts that, "The fact that CompuServe allows parents to block   │
  24. │pornography is not sufficient to block liability under the Communications    │
  25. │Decency Act."  No doubt the judges in Philadelphia would be interested to    │
  26. │hear this.                                                                   │
  27. │                                                                             │
  28. │-- Trueman's absurd claim is that "children have unlimited access to         │
  29. │pornography on CompuServe."                                                  │
  30. │                                                                             │
  31. │-- My personal favorite: "It does no good for Congress to pass laws to       │
  32. │protect children if the FBI is unwilling to enforce them... I hope you will  │
  33. │not stand by while the FBI guts the recently passed Communications Decency   │
  34. │Act through it's refusal to do it's job."                                    │
  35. │                                                                             │
  36. │The full text of Trueman's fulmination follows below.                        │
  37. │                                                                             │
  38. │Work the network!                                                            │
  39. │                                                                             │
  40. │--Todd Lappin-->                                                             │
  41. │Section Editor                                                               │
  42. │WIRED Magazine                                                               │
  43. │                                                                             │
  44. │========================================================                     │
  45. │                                                                             │
  46. │American Family Association                                                  │
  47. │                                                                             │
  48. │Washington, D.C. Office                                                      │
  49. │                                                                             │
  50. │PRESS RELEASE                                                                │
  51. │Contact: Patrick A. Trueman                                                  │
  52. │(202) 544-0061                                                               │
  53. │                                                                             │
  54. │For Immediate Release               Thursday May 9, 1996                     │
  55. │                                                                             │
  56. │The American Family Association is pressing its complaint against            │
  57. │CompuServe for making pornography available to children, despite comments    │
  58. │by the FBI in today's Columbus Dispatch that it will not initiate an         │
  59. │investigation.  In a letter today to Janet Reno, AFA Director of             │
  60. │Governmental Affairs Patrick Trueman said, "If CompuServe's actions, in      │
  61. │providing pornography to children, is not a violation of the Communications  │
  62. │Decency Act, then what it?"  Trueman asked Attorney General Reno to          │
  63. │personally review AFA's complaint against CompuServe.  "Making pornography   │
  64. │available to children, as CompuServe has done, is exactly what the CDA was   │
  65. │designed to prevent."                                                        │
  66. │                                                                             │
  67. │"The fact that CompuServe allows parents to block pornography is not         │
  68. │sufficient to block liability under the Communications Decency Act,"         │
  69. │Trueman said.  Congress anticipated that on-line companies would block out   │
  70. │all pornography that they may provide to their users on their service        │
  71. │unless an adult specifically requests it.  CompuServe has turned the law on  │
  72. │its head, by providing pornography to all its users, including children,     │
  73. │claiming that it should be the parents' responsibility to block out such     │
  74. │material.  By CompuServe's own figures, far less than 1% of parents have     │
  75. │initiated parental controls (only .128%).  Trueman suggests that this is     │
  76. │likely because few parents are aware that their children have unlimited      │
  77. │access to pornography on CompuServe.                                         │
  78. │                                                                             │
  79. │AFA is also contacting congressional sponsors of the Communications Decency  │
  80. │Act to alert them to the FBI's refusal to pursue the CompuServe matter.      │
  81. │"It does no good for Congress to pass laws to protect children is the FBI    │
  82. │is unwilling to enforce them," Trueman said in his letter to Members of      │
  83. │Congress.  "I hope you will not stand by while the FBI guts the recently     │
  84. │passed Communications Decency Act through it's refusal to do it's job."      │
  85. │                                                                             │
  86. │###                                                                          │
  87. │                                                                             │
  88. │+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-│
  89. │This transmission was brought to you by....                                  │
  90. │                                                                             │
  91. │        THE CDA INFORMATION NETWORK                                          │
  92. │                                                                             │
  93. │The CDA Information Network is a moderated distribution list providing       │
  94. │up-to-the-minute bulletins and background on efforts to overturn the         │
  95. │Communications Decency Act.  To subscribe, send email to                     │
  96. │<majordomo@wired.com> with "subscribe cda-bulletin" in the message body.     │
  97. │                                                                             │
  98. │WARNING: This is not a test!            WARNING: This is not a drill!        │
  99. │+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-│
  100. └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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