"Decency" Act Passes Senate -- On 14-Jun-95, the Exon/Gorton/Coats Communications Decency Act (see TidBITS-263 and TidBITS-279) was attached to the Telecommunications Reform bill and will soon go before the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill seeks to criminalize many forms of online communications and place culpability in the hands of service providers. If passed, the legislation could have a repressive impact on American business interests on the Internet, as providers and companies take their businesses and services (and money!) overseas where such content-based restrictions don't exist. In addition, costs of insurance and litigation may well drive providers out of the country or out of business, and U.S. taxpayers could be made to support a potentially enormous government bureaucracy with regulation and enforcement responsibilities. [GD]

http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
http://www.cdt.org/cda.html