home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
DP Tool Club 31
/
CDASC_31_1996_juillet_aout.iso
/
vrac
/
info5_96.zip
/
CDA1
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-05-20
|
8KB
|
101 lines
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 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 │
│Congress. "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." │
│ │
│### │
│ │
│+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-│
│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! │
│+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘