Labels:text | screenshot | menu | font OCR: AFA Continues to Demand Smut Investigations It's refreshing to detect the note of frustration that runs through the latest press release from the American Family Association ... It seems the AFA is unaccustomed to having folks in Washington rebuff its alarmist cries to "protect the children" by censoring free speech. But indeed, that seems to be the case. The Columbus Dispatch recently reported that the FBI *will not# launch an investigation of CompuServe following the AFA's accusations that the service is "making pornography available to children." Of course, ol' Pat Trueman isn't giving up without a fight. Having been thwarted by the FBI, he's now whining to Janet Reno and some members of Congress that not enough is being done to uphold his cherished Communications Decency Act. Other highlights: -- The AFA asserts that, "The fact that CompuServe allows parents to block pornography is not sufficient to block liability under the Communications Decency Act." No doubt the judges in Philadelphia would be interested to hear this. -- Trueman's absurd claim is that "children have unlimited access to pornography on CompuServe." -- My personal favorite: "It does no good for Congress to pass laws to protect children if the FBI is unwilling to enforce them ... I hope you will not stand by while the FBI guts the recently passed Communications Decency Act through it's refusal to do it's job." The full text of Trueman's fulmination follows below. Work the network! -- Todd Lappin -- > Section Editor WIRED Magazine ========= American Family Association Washington, D.C. Office PRESS RELEASE Contact: Patrick A. Trueman (202) 544-0061 For Immediate Release Thursday May 9, 1996 The American Family Association is pressing its complaint against CompuServe for making pornography available to children, despite comments by the FBI in today's Columbus Dispatch that it will not initiate an investigation. In a letter today to Janet Reno, AFA Director of Governmental Affairs Patrick Trueman said, "If CompuServe's actions, in providing pornography to children, is not a violation of the Communications Decency Act, then what it?" Trueman asked Attorney General Reno to personally review AFA's complaint against CompuServe. "Making pornography available to children, as CompuServe has done, is exactly what the CDA was designed to prevent." "The fact that CompuServe allows parents to block pornography is not sufficient to block liability under the Communications Decency Act," Trueman said. Congress anticipated that on-line companies would block out all pornography that they may provide to their users on their service unless an adult specifically requests it. CompuServe has turned the law on its head, by providing pornography to all its users, including children, claiming that it should be the parents' responsibility to block out such material. By CompuServe's own figures, far less than 1% of parents have initiated parental controls (only .128%). Trueman suggests that this is likely because few parents are aware that their children have unlimited access to pornography on CompuServe. AFA is also contacting congressional sponsors of the Communications Decency Act to alert them to the FBI's refusal to pursue the CompuServe matter. "It does no good for Congress to pass laws to protect children is the FBI is unwilling to enforce them," Trueman said in his letter to Members of "I hope you will not stand by while the FBI guts the recently passed Communications Decency Act through it's refusal to do it's job." Congress. 18 18 18 This transmission was brought to you by .... THE CDA INFORMATION NETWORK The CDA Information Network is a moderated distribution list providing up-to-the-minute bulletins and background on efforts to overturn the Communications Decency Act. To subscribe, send email to <majordomo@wired.com> with "subscribe cda-bulletin" in the message body. WARNING: This is not a test! WARNING: This is not a drill!
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