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-
- Computer underground Digest Tue Jun 8, 1995 Volume 7 : Issue 47
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
- Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Triviata: How many bytes in a nibble?
-
- CONTENTS, #7.47 (Thu, Jun 8, 1995)
-
- File 1--Thebes
- File 2--A Seduction In Cyberspace (Update from CuD 7.46)
- File 3--Letter to AOL in response to "Damien Starr" incident
- File 4--adult only
- File 5--Can Parents prevent Web page viewing? (Re: CuD 7.46)
- File 6--THE COMPUTER LAW REPORT - June '95 (fwd)
- File 7--CDT POLICY POST #16 -- SEN. DOLE TO INTRODUCE SWEEPING INTERNET
- File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 19 Apr, 1995)
-
- CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
- THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 07 Jun 1995 06:12:51 -0700 (MST)
- From: Waiting for the summer to hit hard <Joel_M_Snyder@OPUS1.COM>
- Subject: File 1--Thebes
-
- ((MODERATORS' NOTE: Joel Snyder, a Latin undergrad, came the
- closest. The (politically) correct answer was: THE WORKERS!))
-
- Amphion and Zethus built the walls around Cadmus' city.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 07 Jun 95 21:06:54 EDT
- To: cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu
- Subject: File 2--A Seduction In Cyberspace (Update from CuD 7.46)
-
- On May 18, 1995, Daniel Montgomery -- a 15-year-old teenager
- living in a Seattle area community known as Maple Valley -- left home
- using a bus ticket provided by someone else. Early in June,
- Montgomery's disappearance became a hot item for the local press.
- Details were not clear, and changed radically with each passing day.
- Through a period of less than one week since the news media picked up
- the story, this case may have come to some form of final resolution.
- Here is where things stand.
-
- Montgomery, who was 15 at the time but turned 16 on 6-4-95, met
- someone calling himself "Damien Starr" in a gay & lesbian chat room on
- America Online. Starr suggested that Montgomery join him in San
- Francisco. Starr eventually sent Montgomery a bus ticket. Upon
- receiving the bus ticket by mail, Montgomery left Seattle. Thus, Bill
- and Ruth Montgomery -- Daniel Montgomery's parents -- notified
- authorities and began a search for their son. By the time news media
- coverage had transformed the situation into a major Seattle news
- story, Montgomery's parents were asserting that Daniel had probably
- been seduced to run away by someone Daniel met on America Online. Bill
- and Ruth Montgomery only knew that Daniel had been communicating with
- "Damien Starr" online and offline prior to leaving Seattle, and that
- both Starr and Daniel had contacted the Montgomerys a short time after
- Daniel arrived in San Francisco.
-
- A user profile for Starr had indicated he was 18 and gay. This
- apparently, in part, led the Montgomerys to believe their son was the
- potential future victim of some gay sex group. Between 5-18-95 and
- 6-2-95, Daniel Montgomery had contacted his parents via E-Mail twice,
- and Starr had called to assure Daniel's parents that Daniel was ok no
- less than four times. It was also on 6-2-95 that the Montgomery
- run-away story became so prominent that Seattle area TV stations were
- interviewing Bill Montgomery. With little doubt, Bill Montgomery
- voiced his fears as to a theory that Daniel was being "groomed" for
- sex. However, only two days later, Daniel was found in a San Francisco
- airport. His parents flew down to San Francisco to meet Daniel. At
- that time, Daniel returned to Seattle. Approximately two days later,
- the news media of Settle was reporting that America Online had
- released information concerning Starr to the FBI. Upon investigating
- Starr, the FBI found that Starr is 16, not 18. They also learned that
- "Damien Starr" was NOT an alias. With these discoveries, all thought
- of possibly charging Starr for violation of the Mann Act evaporated.
-
- In a Previous posting to CuD (See CuD 7.46, File 1), I reported
- that this case was not finished. I now believe it may indeed be closed
- as of today, 6-7-95. But, of course, a new specter seems to have taken
- its place in the form of another run-away case involving a 13-year-old
- Louisville, Kentucky girl -- Tara Noble. And so, it seems the
- Merry-go-round has not stopped; it has only taken new riders. Perhaps
- someone in Louisville can tell us what's going on there.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 09 Jun 1995 01:00:06 -0000
- From: moseman@PWRLINE.PO.MY(Larry Moser)
- Subject: File 3--Letter to AOL in response to "Damien Starr" incident
-
- To: sales@aol.com (I hope this address works.)
-
- Found in a recent listserv posting:
-
- >In the past two days, some news media organizations have
- >statedAOL was under some pressure to reveal information on a
- >subscriberusing the alias "Damien Starr." However, other news
- >mediaorganizations were stating that AOL was resolute in its
- >policy n ot toreveal information about subscribers. Even so,
- >today, [6-6-95] severalbroadcast organizations (KING-TV, KIRO-TV,
- >KIRO radio, and KOMO radio)now report that AOL has terminated the
- >person who used the DamienStarr alias. KOMO radio broadcast the
- >foll owing in a news program thismorning. America Online says
- >it's complying with a subpoena and giving investigators
- >information about the account of Damien Starr. That's the name
- >used by a man suspected of luring a teenaged boy to San
- >Francisco. The computer service has also terminated the man's
- >account.
-
- I'm not gay and I don't proposition anyone on the net, but if it's
- true that you were so easily intimitdated by The Law and the media
- hype concerning the above, I will recommend to everyone I meet NOT to
- subscribe to your service.
-
-
- Sent via FirstClass (R) UUCP Gateway of Persatuan Komputer Brunei
- Darussalam (Brunei Computer Society).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 08 Jun 1995 00:10:46 -0400
- From: christij@UNIX.ASB.COM(Joseph Christie)
- Subject: File 4--adult only
-
- In CUD 7.46 comp-academic-freedom-talk@EFF.ORG is quoted
-
- In the next version of the Web navigators, just introduce a new HTML
- tag <adult_only>. If a WWW browser encounters this tag enclosed inside
- the <head> </head> part of a HTML document, then the browser will
- simply refuse to load or render the document. The author of a Web page
- should put that tag in all of his pages containing materials that he
- does not want to be seen by young children.
-
- This makes it incumbent on everyone who maintains a page to not only
- police their own page. What if I'm not sure about the standards for
- which I am being held liable. Not necessarily pornography but adult
- discussions of current events which may include occasional referrences
- to things many parents would not want their children exposed to like
- the sexual escapades of sports or movie idole or rock musicians.
-
- I think it makes more sense to have "children OK" sites rather than
- "adult only" sites. This way you are not individually excluding
- specific sites with a large group of sites being included for access
- by accident, ignorance or laziness. If you forgot to label it "adult
- only" it might be an honest mistake, but if you specifically label it
- "kids OK" and it's contains offensive material you can't plead
- accidental oversight.
-
- It just seems that "kids OK" is more enforceable and easier to
- implement and manage than "adults only"
-
- This brings to mind a second question.
-
- What if I link to Happy Harry's cartoon page because he has great
- Disney images. So I label it as a great site for the kiddies. Next
- week Harry decides to put up a Fritz the Cat section. Am I liable for
- pointing the kiddies to an X rated site if Harry doesn't protect his
- site or is it strictly his problem?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 16:03:12 -0500
- From: Gerald Anderson <gander@TECH3.COX.SMU.EDU>
- Subject: File 5--Can Parents prevent Web page viewing? (Re: CuD 7.46)
-
- I would like to respond to the text in issue 7.46 re: Can the
- parents prevent their children from viewing unwanted Web pages?
-
- I think that the idea put forth is quite a good example of how we
- should all be facing this problem. It is well known that if we, the
- net.community, don't fix our own problems, the government(s) will fix
- them for us. This, to me anyway, is terrifying. Therefore we must be
- putting every effort in to reasonably solving these problems before it
- is too late.
-
- The solution this person (Author is unknown :-( ) presented, is a
- spirit of cooperation between providers of 'controversial materials'
- and the publishers of Web browsing software. He/She (Will use He in
- the future, no offense.) suggested that the producers of Web browsers
- institute (in HTML 3.0?) a a standard header tag that tells the Web
- client that this document is adult in nature. (The tag he suggested
- was <Adult_Only>) When a family member installs the Web client on
- their home machine it would ask for a password and this password would
- be required to access any pages with the above tag. This is a pretty
- good idea, a good place to start at least.
-
- In his text he stated (truly) that we can't guarantee %100
- effectiveness of any procedure as there are kids out there who will
- find ways to get what they want, we DO indeed have to focus on the one
- we CAN control. (Note: Even government legislation is not going to
- control the kids that want it. There will always be someone to
- provide, and someone to receive if they are both interested enough)
-
- I, at one time was one of these kids. If I would have been in a
- situation where my parents password protected a program I would have
- gotten out debug and found out what it was. I think a few EASY steps
- can be made to insure better security and greater flexibility.
-
- 1) Upon install have option of protecting or not.
- 2) Upon deciding to protect when installing, the password will be
- automatically sent to the server of the Client publisher
- to be stored with the hostname. (This may present
- problems with dynamic slip though) An easy CGI program could
- handle this. I don't think this would be much more
- of an issue than we are already discussing.
- 3) When accessing a protected document, go to the old
- 3 strikes your out password scheme. At the third
- failure the client locks up and needs a secondary
- password GIVEN to the INSTALLER at install time
- (A crypto based on the installer provided password?)
- to unlock the client again. IF this type of security
- is enabled it could allow for parents to track or
- audit what their children are seeing (request logs from
- provider, or whatever). If the installer decides NOT
- to use this protection his privacy is as thorough as it
- is today.
-
- This is a pretty off the top idea, but at least should give those
- interested in thinking about it a few ideas. These ideas keep the
- children away who can be kept away and protects the privacy of those
- adults who are viewing these sites. If anybody can think of anyway to
- simplify this or to make it even more secure, feel free to email me.
- Also, I would consider putting together an open mailing list for the
- discussion of such techniques for all forms of Internet tools. If
- you're interested in this type of mailing list or have any comments
- email: gander@mail.cox.smu.edu.
-
- Gerald D. Anderson
-
- P.S. Perhaps a Content-Type could also be used. (sorry, I'll stop now ;-)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 4 Jun 1995 13:09:25 -0500 (CDT)
- From: David Smith <bladex@BGA.COM>
- Subject: File 6--THE COMPUTER LAW REPORT - June '95 (fwd)
-
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
-
- **********************************************
- THE COMPUTER LAW REPORT
- JUNE, 1995
- PREPARED BY WILLIAM S. GALKIN, ESQ.
- galkin@aol.com
- **********************************************
- ARTICLES CONTAINED IN THIS ISSUE:
-
- (1) E-MAIL CONFESSIONS IN COURT
- (2) LICENSE RESTRICTIONS CAN BACKFIRE
- (3) RAIDING EMPLOYEES
-
- * PLEASE READ *: If you have any questions about the material
- contained in The Computer Law Report, or would like to discuss issues
- related to computer or technology law, please contact William S.
- Galkin, Esq.: e-mail (galkin@aol.com), telephone (410-356-8853), fax
- (410-356-8804), or mail (10451 Mill Run Circle, Suite 400, Owings
- Mills, MD 21117). The Computer Law Report is distributed free, and
- designed for the non-lawyer. To subscribe, please respond via e-mail.
- All information contained in The Computer Law Report is for the
- benefit of the recipients, and should not be relied on or considered
- as legal advice. When necessary, proper professionals should be
- consulted.
-
-
- ++++++++++++E-MAIL CONFESSIONS IN COURT++++++++++++++
-
- E-mail is the most efficient means of communication
- available today. However, this efficiency and ease of use can become a
- huge liability in the future.
- A case in point involves a recent trade secrets suit by
- Vermont Microsystems, Inc. (located in Winooski, Vermont) against
- Autodesk, Inc. (located in Sausalito, California). Microsystems
- argued that Autodesk had reason to know that trade secrets known by a
- former Microsystems software engineer were incorporated into an
- Autodesk software product.
- In court Microsystems introduced internal e-mail
- records of Autodesk which evidenced knowledge by Autodesk management
- of the trade secrets. There was also evidence that computer files had
- been deleted from the software engineer's computer, suggesting foul
- play. The judge awarded Microsystems $25 million. The judgment has
- been appealed.
- However this case ultimately turns out, it highlights
- the use (and danger) of e-mail and other records in court actions.
- Usually, e-mail goes unmonitored in companies. For one thing,
- employees do not feel comfortable having their communications
- monitored. Additionally, monitoring e-mail is a complicated and time
- consuming task.
- Paper records are usually subject to a much higher
- level of control. Paper is either filed (which provides a control
- process), or is destroyed through normal disposal means or shredding.
- However, e-mail is much easier to maintain, and then be forgotten
- about. Additionally, the volume of information that e-mail contains is
- much greater than with paper information because of its ease of use.
- What's more, e-mail is difficult to permanently destroy, because once
- deleted, it can still be recovered.
- We can anticipate that e-mail and other computer
- records will provide at least some portion of evidence in a majority
- of business-related litigation from now on. Employment discrimination
- and sexual harassments suits quickly come to mind as likely
- candidates. Imagine if all conversations in a company were recorded,
- and available to be produced in court. To a lesser extent, this is
- what e-mail records provide - threads of communications on virtually
- all subjects relating to the inner workings of a company.
- The problem lies in the fact that companies are not
- aware of what information is being maintained. What should a company
- do? First, an information policy should be developed and disseminated
- to employees, regularly, as to what type of communications are to be
- communicated over e-mail. Furthermore, the policy should categorize
- different types of information and require that different categories
- are subject to deletion after given time periods. Lastly, the company
- should conduct periodic house-cleaning of the entire system in order
- to monitor compliance with the information policy, and also to get an
- idea what type of information is on the system.
- There is no advice being given in this article to
- intentionally destroy evidence of wrongdoing. However, the true enemy
- to be confronted is the uncontrolled accumulation of vast amounts of
- information, which does not need to be maintained, and which may be
- used against a company in the future.
-
- ++++++++++++LICENSE RESTRICTIONS CAN BACKFIRE+++++++
-
- Licensors of software usually dictate the terms of the
- license agreement under which they will license their software. For
- example, the license agreement may require the licensee to only use
- the software for internal use (i.e., may not act as a service bureau),
- or to only use the software on a specified computer.
- In the Fourth Circuit case of Lasercomb America, Inc.
- v. Reynolds, Lasercomb developed and licensed a CAD/CAM
- (computer-assisted design/computer-assisted manufacture) software
- program known as Interact, which is used for making steel dies which
- cut and score paper and cardboard for folding into boxes and cartons.
- Lasercomb's standard license agreement included the following
- provision: "Licensee agrees during the term of this Agreement that it
- will not permit or suffer its directors, officers and employees,
- directly or indirectly, to write, develop, produce or sell
- computer-assisted die-making software."
- The license also prohibited the licensee from assisting
- others to do any of the prohibited activities. The term of the
- agreement was 99 years.
- In clear violation of Lasercomb's copyright, one
- licensee, Holiday Steel Rule Die Corporation, made unauthorized copies
- of the software and began marketing it. Lasercomb sued Holiday for
- copyright infringement.
- The court held that the terms of Lasercomb's license
- agreement amounted to a misuse of the copyright in the software by
- Lasercomb and, based on a copyright misuse defense, the court denied
- Lasercomb's infringement claim -- even though copyright infringement
- did occur.
- The court reasoned that Lasercomb attempted to use its
- copyright to inhibit competition in a manner that exceeded the
- protection provided under the copyright laws. The license agreement
- prohibited licensees from developing or selling computer-assisted
- die-making software during the ninety-nine year term of the license
- agreement. This extension, beyond the copyright protection, to
- restrict licensees from all competitive efforts relating to
- computer-assisted die making was determined to be misuse, because such
- protection extended into the "idea" of CAD/CAM for making rule dies,
- and "ideas" are not protectable under the copyright laws.
- The copyright misuse defense is likely to be followed
- in other circuits and will certainly be raised by defendants in
- copyright suits.
- Therefore, the lesson is clear: examine your current license
- agreements for any noncompetitive provisions, otherwise you run the
- risk of not being able to enforce your copyright against infringers.
-
- ++++++++++++RAIDING EMPLOYEES+++++++++++++++++
-
- The computer industry, more than other industries,
- often sees companies luring away key personnel from competitors. This
- competition for employees stems from the great value to a computer
- company of the personal skills of its employees.
- Generally, a company may freely attempt to hire away
- its competitor's employees. Accordingly, "raiding" other companies'
- employees is permissible, though it may be viewed as unfair by the
- victim-company.
- Although raiding is permissible, restrictions on
- misappropriation of trade secrets still apply. Encouraging an
- employee to join a company with the tacit understanding that part of
- the job will require disclosure of trade secrets is an actionable
- wrong.
- It is difficult to prove an intent to lure away
- employees for the purpose of disclosing trade secrets, because there
- is a fine line between hiring a competitor's employee because of his
- or her learned expertise (which is permissible) or for the purpose of
- making use of and disclosing trade secrets (which is not permissible).
- While employees may compete with a former employer,
- during the time that the employee is still working for the employer,
- the employee may not divert or attempt to solicit any customers to a
- competitor. Such solicitation, if known by a competitor, might result
- in the competitor being enjoined from doing business with the
- solicited customer.
- There are three important protections that an employer
- concerned about being raided can put in place. The first is to have
- key employees sign employment agreements. A company is not permitted
- to attempt to lure a competitor's employee if leaving would cause the
- employee to be in breach of the employment agreement. However, an
- employment agreement will also limit the ability of the employer to
- fire the employee.
- The second protection is having the employee enter into
- a confidentiality agreement. Such an agreement may be incorporated
- into an employment agreement and sets forth the type of information
- that the employer considers confidential. Such an agreement is an
- invaluable piece of evidence when claiming a former employee is
- revealing trade secrets.
- The third and most powerful protection is a
- noncompetition agreement, which also can be incorporated into an
- employment agreement. Such an agreement restricts an employee from
- competing with the employer for a specified term (e.g., two or three
- years) and within a specified area (e.g., Maryland). Such term and
- area restrictions must be reasonable in scope, or will not be
- enforceable.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 6 Jun 1995 17:11:03 -0500
- From: jseiger@cdt.org (Jonah Seiger)
- Subject: File 7--CDT POLICY POST #16 -- SEN. DOLE TO INTRODUCE SWEEPING INTERNET
-
- CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY Jun 6, 1995 / #16
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
- A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
-
- CONTENTS: (1) Sens. Dole & Grassley to introduce sweeping anti-indecency
- Internet censorship bill
- (2) Sen. Lott To offer amendment to strike 'Defenses' section
- of Exon CDA
- (3) Legislative Update -- Status of Exon CDA
- (4) Text of the Grassley/Dole proposal
- (5) Petition Update -- 20,000 + signaures in the first two weeks
- (6) About CDT/Contacting Us
-
- This document may be re-distributed freely provided it remains in its
- entirety.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- (1) SENS DOLE (R-KS) & GRASSLEY (R-IA) TO INTRODUCE SWEEPING ANTI-INDECENCY
- INTERNET CENSORSHIP BILL
-
- OVERVIEW
- --------
-
- Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) is expected to up the ante on Internet censorship
- tomorrow by co-sponsoring legislation with Senator Charles Grassley
- (R-IA). The proposal to be offered by the Senate Majority leader and
- Republican Presidental candidate is more sweeping than the Exon
- Communicatons Decency Act, and comes on the heals of his recent attack
- on "sex and violence" in the entertainment industry.
-
- The Dole/Grassley proposal represents an even greater threat to the
- First Amendment and the free flow of information in cyberspace than
- the Exon Communications Decency Act, now pending before the Senate (a
- vote on the CDA is expected as early as tomorrow, 6/7/95). The Dole
- proposal will likely be offered as a substitute to the CDA. Senator
- Dole is expected to announce his support for the bill at a 6/7 lunch
- hosted by the anti-pornography group Enough Is Enough. The text of the
- proposal is attached below.
-
- The introduction of Dole/Grassley creates an even greater need for
- support of Senator Leahy's alternative (S. 714). If the Senate rejects
- Senator Leahy's alternative, it will pass either the Exon bill or the
- even more draconian Dole/Grassley proposal, and the net as we know it
- will never be the same again. To find out what you can do to help,
- contact the Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) by sending a message
- to vtw@vtw.org with a subject "send alert". Please also sign the
- petition (URL and instructions at the end of this post)
-
-
- SUMMARY OF DOLE/GRASSLEY PROPOSAL
- ---------------------------------
-
- The Dole/Grassley bill would create new penalties in Title 18 for all
- operators of electronic communications services who knowingly transmit
- indecent material to anyone under 18 years of age. The bill would also
- create criminal liability for system operators who willfully permit minors
- to use an electronic communications service in order to obtain indecent
- material from another service.
-
- The Dole/Grassley bill would impose criminal liability on online service
- providers, electronic bulletin board operators, as well as any other entity
- that uses computer storage to deliver information to users, including video
- dialtone services, cable television video on demand services, etc. The
- degree of knowledge required to impose liability is unclear, but it appears
- that an entity could be said to have the requisite knowledge if it is
- merely informed by a third party that some material on its system is
- indecent.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
-
- (2) SEN. LOTT (R-MISS) TO OFFER AMENDMENT TO STRIKE 'DEFENSES' SECTION OF
- EXON CDA.
-
- Senator Lott is preparing to offer an amendment to strike the service
- provider defenses from the Exon language already approved by the Senate
- Commerce committee.
-
- Analysis: Holding service providers such as America Online and Internet
- access providers liable for the content on their system over which they
- have no control will stifle the free flow of information in cyberspace and
- create major business risk for the private companies that are building the
- National Information Infrastructure. Furthermore, placing criminal
- liability on service providers poses a serious risk to the privacy of
- individual users by forcing service providers to monitor communications in
- order to limit their own liability.
-
- Status: Lott plans to offer this amendment when the on the Senate floor
- when the telecommunications bill is being considered.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
-
- (3) LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- STATUS OF EXON CDA
-
- With the Senate telecommunications reform bill poised to go to the floor
- this week, proposals to censor the Internet are proliferating beyond just
- the Exon language. The most sweeping and threatening proposals come from
- the Senate leadership and other Republicans. The provisions of the Exon
- proposal that are already in the telecommunications bill contain
- restrictions on indecent communications which would apply to all parts of
- the Internet, commercial online services, and all other interactive media
- including interactive television, etc. We believe these provisions to be
- unconstitutional and continue to oppose them. CDT continues to work with
- members of the Interactive Working Group in urging support for the Leahy
- study bill as an alternative.
-
- The Exon proposal now part of the Senate telecommunications bill still
- poses serious risks to free speech online. The Exon proposal contains
- restrictions on "indecent" communications, which could ban all
- sexually-explicit communications on the Internet, along with all uses
- of the "seven dirty words."
-
- Analysis: CDT continues to argue that the indecency restrictions in the
- Exon bill are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
-
- Status: Senator Leahy plans to offer an amendment to strike the Exon
- provisions and replace them with his study bill (S.714) as an alternative.
-
- CDT continues to work with members of the Interactive Working Group in
- urging support for the Leahy study as an alternative to the Exon bill,
- which we still believe to be unconstitutional.
-
- For more information, see CDT's Communications Decency Act Archives:
-
- http://www.cdt.org
- ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/policy/freespeech/00-INDEX.FREESPEECH
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- (4) TEXT OF THE DOLE/GRASSLEY PROPOSAL
-
- 104th Congress: First Session.
-
- IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
-
- Mr. Grassley introduced the following bill, which was read twice and
- referred to the Committee on ______________________________________
-
- A BILL
-
- To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to punish
- transmission by computer of indecent material to minors.
-
- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
- States of American in Congress assembled,
-
- SECTION 1: TRANSMISSION BY COMPUTER OF INDECENT MATERIAL TO MINORS.
-
- (a) OFFENSES. -- Section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is
- amended --
-
- (1) in the heading by striking "Broadcasing obscene language"
- and inserting "Utterance of indecent or profane language by radio com-
- munication; transmission to minor of indecent material from remote
- computer facility, electronic communications service, or electronic
- bulletin board service";
-
- (2) by striking "Whoever" and inserting "(a) UTTERANCE OF
- INDECENT OR PROFANE LANGUAGE BY RADIO COMMUNICA-
- TION. -- A person who"; and
-
- (3) by adding at the end the following:
-
- "(b) TRANSMISSION TO MINOR OF INDECENT MATERIAL FROM REMOTE
- COMPUTER FACILITY, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE, OR ELECTRONIC
- BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE PROVIDER.--
-
- "(1) DEFINITIONS -- As used in this subsection --
-
- "(A) the term 'remote computer facility' means a facility
- that --
-
- "(i) provides to the public computer storage or processing
- services by means of an electronic commu nications system; and
-
- "(ii) permits a computer user to transfer electronic
- or digital material from the facility to another computer;
-
- "(B) the term 'electroni communications service' means any wire, radio,
- electromagnetic, photo optical, or photo-electronic system for the
- transmission of electronic communications, and any computer facility or
- related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such
- communications, that permits a computer user to transfer electronic or
- digital material from the service to another computer; and,
-
- "(C) the term 'electronic bulletin board service' means a computer
- system, regardless of whether operated for commercial purposes, that
- exists primarily to provide remote or on-site users with digital images
- or that exists primarily to permit remote or on-site users to
- participatein or create on-line discussion groups or conferences.
-
- "(2) TRANSMISSION BY REMOTE COMPUTER FACILITY
- OPERATOR, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE
- PROVIDER, OR ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE PROVIDER. -- A remote
- computer facility operator, electronic commu-
- nications service provider, electronic bulletin board service provider
- who, with knowledge of the character of the material, knowingly or
- recklessly --
-
- "(A) transmits from the remote computer facility, electronic
- communications service, or electronic bulletin board service provider a
- communication that contains indecent material to a person under 18 years
- of age; or
-
- "(B) causes or allows to be transmitted from the remote computer
- facility, electronic communications service, or electronic bulletin
- board a communication that contains indecent material to a person under
- 18 years of age,
-
- shall be fined in accordance with this title, imprisoned not more than
- 5 years, or both.
-
- "(3) PERMITTING ACCESS BY MINOR. -- Any person who
- willfully permits a person under 18 years of age to use a remote com-
- puting service, electronic communications service, or electronic
- bulletin board service to obtain indecent material from another remote
- computing service, electronic communications service, or electronic
- board service, shall be fined not more than $10,000, imprisoned not
- more than 2 years, or both.
-
- "(4) NONAPPLICABILITY TO PARENT OR LEGAL
- GUARDIAN. -- This subsection shall not apply to a parent or legal
- guardian who provides indecent material to the child of such parent
- or legal guardian."
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- (5) PETITION UPDATE -- 20,000 SIGNATUES IN TWO WEEKS.
-
- In the first two weeks of the petition effort, we have gathered over 20,000
- signatures in support of Senator Leahy's alternative to the Exon
- Communications Decency Act.
-
- If you have not yet signed the petition, please visit the petition page
-
- http://www.cdt.org/petition.html
-
- If you do not have access to the Web, send a message to vtw@vtw.org with a
- suject 'send petition' for instructions on how to sing by email.
-
- The petition may be Delivered to Senator Leahy sometime this week, but it
- will continue to be up to gather signatures until the House of
- Representatives votes later this summer. Updates and a final singature
- tally will be posted shortly.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- (6) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US
-
- The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
- organization. The Center's mission is to develop and advocate public
- policies that advance constitutional civil liberties and democratic
- values in new computer and communications technologies.
-
- Contacting us:
-
- To subscribe to CDT's news distribution list (to receive future Policy Posts
- directly), send email to <cdt-lists@cdt.org> with a subject of 'subscribe
- policy posts'.
-
- ** NOTE TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY REQUESTED TO BE ADDED TO CDT's DISTRIBUTION
- LIST: We are still working to build our listserv -- you will beging
- receiving Policy Posts on this list very soon. We appreciate your patience!
-
- General information on CDT can be obtained by sending mail to
- <info@cdt.org>
-
- CDT has set up the following auto-reply aliases to keep you informed on the
- Communications Decency Act issue.
-
- For information on the bill, including
- CDT's analysis and the text of Senator
- Leahy's alternative proposal and
- information on what you can do to
- help -- cda-info@cdt.org
-
- For the current status of the bill,
- including scheduled House and
- Senate action (updated as events
- warrant) -- cda-stat@cdt.org
-
- World-Wide-Web:
-
- http://www.cdt.org/
-
- ftp:
-
- ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/
-
- gopher:
-
- CDT's gopher site is still under construction and should be operational
- soon.
-
- snail mail:
-
- Center For Democracy and Technology
- 1001 G Street, NW Suite 700 East
- Washington, DC 20001
- voice: +1.202.637.9800
- fax: +1.202.637.9800
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1995 22:51:01 CDT
- From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
- Subject: File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 19 Apr, 1995)
-
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- or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
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-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Computer Underground Digest #7.47
- ************************************
-
-