home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
/ DP Tool Club 31 / CDASC_31_1996_juillet_aout.iso / vrac / info5_96.zip / ACLU next >
Text File  |  1996-05-20  |  15KB  |  192 lines
  1. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  2. │From: ACLU.Newsfeed-Owner@villa.fc.net                                       │
  3. │                                                                             │
  4. │----------------------------------------------------------------             │
  5. │04-12-96                                                                     │
  6. │ACLU Newsfeed -- ACLU News Releases Direct to YOU                            │
  7. │----------------------------------------------------------------             │
  8. │TODAY'S NEWS:                                                                │
  9. │                                                                             │
  10. │* ACLU v. RENO: TRIAL UPDATE: Government Opens Case in Internet Trial        │
  11. │                                                                             │
  12. │* New Utah Bill Seeks to Kill Gay Clubs                                      │
  13. │----------------------------------------------------------------             │
  14. │     *ACLU v. RENO: TRIAL UPDATE: Government Opens Case in Internet Trial*   │
  15. │                                                                             │
  16. │                                                                             │
  17. │*  1st Government Witness Acknowledges Difficulty in Finding Sexually        │
  18. │Explicit Material Online                                                     │
  19. │                                                                             │
  20. │*  2nd Government Witness Returns Monday to Conclude Testimony               │
  21. │                                                                             │
  22. │*  Plaintiffs have option to rebut government case Monday                    │
  23. │                                                                             │
  24. │PHILADELPHIA -- Testifying for the government today, Special Agent Howard A. │
  25. │Schmidt acknowledged, in answer to skeptical questioning by a three-judge    │
  26. │panel, that it is "highly unlikely" for anyone to come across sexually       │
  27. │explicit sites on the Internet by accident.                                  │
  28. │                                                                             │
  29. │As the first witness for the government, Agent Schmidt began the morning with│
  30. │a live Internet tour and demonstration of a search for so-called indecency.  │
  31. │ The demonstration stopped short of actually displaying any of the images,   │
  32. │but traced for the court the route by which Schmidt arrived at various web   │
  33. │sites.                                                                       │
  34. │                                                                             │
  35. │Schmidt acknowledged -- under cross-examination -- that majority of the sites│
  36. │he found would have been off limits had he been running a software program   │
  37. │such as SurfWatch, that blocks access to Internet sites considered           │
  38. │inappropriate for children.                                                  │
  39. │                                                                             │
  40. │Marjorie Heins, who conducted cross-examination for the ACLU, noted that     │
  41. │Agent Schmidt's expertise -- and the government's case -- lies in focusing on│
  42. │a very narrow category of sexual material, much of which is already covered  │
  43. │by existing obscenity law.                                                   │
  44. │                                                                             │
  45. │"In today's testimony, the government attempted to divert the court's        │
  46. │attention from the serious concerns of our plaintiffs by focusing on material│
  47. │that is highly inflammatory and largely irrelevant to this case," Heins said.│
  48. │                                                                             │
  49. │The consolidated cases of ACLU v. Reno and ALA v. DOJ challenge provisions of│
  50. │the Communications Decency Act that criminalize making available to minors   │
  51. │"indecent" or "patently offensive" speech.                                   │
  52. │                                                                             │
  53. │Under questioning by the judges, Agent Schmidt was asked how he would enforce│
  54. │the censorship law when confronted with a safe-sex information web-site that │
  55. │displayed an image illustrating how to put a condom on an erect penis.       │
  56. │                                                                             │
  57. │Agent Schmidt said that since the context was "educational, not purely for   │
  58. │pleasure purposes," he would not censor the site but advise the publishers to│
  59. │post warnings.                                                               │
  60. │                                                                             │
  61. │His answer was different when asked how he would rate an online copy of the  │
  62. │controversial Vanity Fair magazine cover featuring the actress Demi Moore,   │
  63. │nearly naked and eight months pregnant.                                      │
  64. │                                                                             │
  65. │In that case, Schmidt said, the Communications Decency Act would apply       │
  66. │because the image was "for fun."  He also said, in answer to a query from    │
  67. │Judge Stuart Dalzell, that the community standard as to the offensive of the │
  68. │image might be different for Minnesota than it would for New York.           │
  69. │                                                                             │
  70. │"It is ironic that, according to the government, an explicit online image of │
  71. │an erect penis in an educational context would be acceptable, whereas Vanity │
  72. │Fair, a constitutionally protected publication containing a much less        │
  73. │explicit image, would be censored," Heins said.                              │
  74. │                                                                             │
  75. │Following Agent Schmidt's testimony, the final plaintiff witness, Dr. Albert │
  76. │Vezza, told the judges about PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection), │
  77. │a new rating system designed to allow parents to control children's access to│
  78. │the Internet without censorship.                                             │
  79. │                                                                             │
  80. │Dr. Vezza is associate director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Sciences  │
  81. │and has chief responsibility for the PICS project.  He was unable to testify │
  82. │earlier in the case due to scheduling conflicts.                             │
  83. │                                                                             │
  84. │Dr. Vezza said he expected that wide industry acceptance of the PICS standard│
  85. │would enable any number of "third-party" organizations such as the PTA, the  │
  86. │Christian Coalition or the Boy Scouts of America to rate content for Internet│
  87. │users.                                                                       │
  88. │                                                                             │
  89. │The second and final government witness, Dr. Dan Olsen, a professor of       │
  90. │computer science at Brigham Young University, took the stand in the          │
  91. │mid-afternoon.                                                               │
  92. │                                                                             │
  93. │Dr. Olsen acknowledged that the PICS standard would allow parents to control │
  94. │their children's Internet viewing according to their own values or via a     │
  95. │rating system devised by a trusted organization.                             │
  96. │                                                                             │
  97. │He also acknowledged that a system he had conceived in which Internet sites  │
  98. │must be labelled by the content originator, would not allow for such an      │
  99. │independent rating scheme.                                                   │
  100. │                                                                             │
  101. │While plaintiff lawyers completed cross-examination of Dr. Olsen today, he   │
  102. │will return on Monday for redirect by government lawyers and to answer any   │
  103. │questions the judges may have.                                               │
  104. │                                                                             │
  105. │It is now anticipated that Monday, April 15, will be the last day of trial in│
  106. │ACLU v Reno.  Plaintiff lawyers will have the opportunity on Monday (instead │
  107. │of April 26) to call witnesses to rebut the governments's testimony.         │
  108. │ However, the ACLU and ALA coalitions did not indicate which witnesses, if   │
  109. │any they would call.                                                         │
  110. │                                                                             │
  111. │Because the April 26 rebuttal day is no longer necessary, the next date in   │
  112. │court is set for June 3, when the three-judge panel will hear oral arguments │
  113. │from both plaintiffs and defendants.                                         │
  114. │                                                                             │
  115. │The judges are expected to issue a ruling some time in the weeks following.  │
  116. │ Under expedited provisions, any appeal on rulings regarding the new         │
  117. │censorship law will be made directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.              │
  118. │                                                                             │
  119. │Lawyers for the ACLU appearing before the judges are Christopher Hansen,     │
  120. │Marjorie Heins, Ann Beeson, and Stefan Presser, legal director of the ACLU of│
  121. │Pennsylvania.                                                                │
  122. │----------------------------------------------------------------             │
  123. │                       *New Utah Bill Seeks to Kill Gay Clubs*               │
  124. │                                                                             │
  125. │Utah lawmakers have reached a compromise on legislation aimed at restricting │
  126. │gay student clubs at Utah high schools while allowing the Salt Lake City     │
  127. │School District to lift its blanket ban on all extracurricular clubs, the    │
  128. │Salt Lake City Tribune reported.                                             │
  129. │                                                                             │
  130. │Passage of the new proposal is on the agenda of next Wednesday's special     │
  131. │session of the Legislature.  The old proposal, which would have forbidden    │
  132. │teachers from condoning or promoting "illegal activity," has been replaced by│
  133. │language that targets "criminal behavior" -- a change supporters hope will   │
  134. │alleviate concerns that the measure might trample free speech rights and     │
  135. │ interfere with acts of civil disobedience in teachers' private lives.       │
  136. │                                                                             │
  137. │And after lengthy talks with lawyers and school officials, the governor and  │
  138. │key lawmakers have agreed to add new provisions that would allow school      │
  139. │districts to ban student clubs that promote "bigotry, encourage criminal     │
  140. │behavior or involve human sexuality."                                        │
  141. │                                                                             │
  142. │Leavitt said that would extend to heterosexual as well as lesbian and gay    │
  143. │clubs.    Doug Bates, attorney for the state Office of Education, said if the│
  144. │new law is enacted, he was all but certain the Salt Lake School District     │
  145. │would move to lift its February ban on all student clubs and replace it with │
  146. │a ban on gay clubs.                                                          │
  147. │                                                                             │
  148. │But that move would tantamount to discrimination, said a student closely     │
  149. │involved with the East High School Gay-Straight Alliance, which sparked much │
  150. │of the current controversy when Salt Lake City school board officials voted  │
  151. │in February to ban all student clubs rather than allow their group to form.  │
  152. │                                                                             │
  153. │"It's an unfair denial of student's rights to life, liberty and happiness,"  │
  154. │said Kelli Peterson, the club's founder.  "We do not talk about having sex.  │
  155. │ We do not promote bigotry.  We promote acceptance."                         │
  156. │                                                                             │
  157. │At issue is the applicability of the federal Equal Access Act of 1984, backed│
  158. │at the time by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and originally drafted to give      │
  159. │Bible-study groups access to school facilities for extracurricular           │
  160. │activities.                                                                  │
  161. │                                                                             │
  162. │The Utah Attorney General's Office and the state Office of Education         │
  163. │officially have opined that under the law, school districts have no basis for│
  164. │forbidding specific clubs, unless they engage in illegal activities.         │
  165. │                                                                             │
  166. │Carol Gnade, director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties    │
  167. │Union, said that the latest version of bill "flies in the face of the        │
  168. │equal-access law" and is certain to be challenged in court.   "This is no    │
  169. │better than the original version and probably worse," Gnade told the Tribune.│
  170. │                                                                             │
  171. │----------------------------------------------------------------             │
  172. │ONLINE RESOURCES FROM THE ACLU NATIONAL OFFICE                               │
  173. │----------------------------------------------------------------             │
  174. │ACLU Freedom Network Web Page:  http://www.aclu.org.                         │
  175. │America Online users should check out our live chats, auditorium events,     │
  176. │*very* active message boards, and complete news on civil liberties, at       │
  177. │keyword ACLU.                                                                │
  178. │                                                                             │
  179. │----------------------------------------------------------------             │
  180. │ACLU Newsfeed                                                                │
  181. │American Civil Liberties Union National Office                               │
  182. │132 West 43rd Street                                                         │
  183. │New York, New York 10036                                                     │
  184. │                                                                             │
  185. │To subscribe to the ACLU Newsfeed, send a message to majordomo@aclu.org with │
  186. │"subscribe News" in the body of the message.  To terminate your subscription,│
  187. │send a message to majordomo@aclu.org with "unsubscribe News" in the body of  │
  188. │the message.                                                                 │
  189. │                                                                             │
  190. │For general information about the ACLU, write to info@aclu.org.              │
  191. └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  192.