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- EFFector Online Volume 08 No. 07 June 6, 1995 editors@eff.org
- A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
-
- IN THIS ISSUE:
- ALERT: Communications Decency Act - Imminent Passage or Failure - Act NOW!
- The Latest News
- What You Can Do Now -- U.S. and non-U.S. citizens
- Senate Contact List
- For More Information
- List Of Participating Organizations
- Newsbytes
- Dole/Grassley Legislation Threatens Online Free Speech - Worse Than CDA
- New Draft of Communications Decency Legislation
- Sen. Lott to Attempt to Rip Sysop Defenses from Exon Bill
- The Other Side of the Coin: Feinstein Bill v. Bomb Material Online
- Prodigy Potentially Liable for User Postings
- Calendar of Events
- Quote of the Week
- What YOU Can Do
- Administrivia
-
- * See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more
- information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: ALERT: Communications Decency Act - Act NOW!
-
- * EMERGENCY UPDATE: Just as this issue was going to virtual press, more and
- * very dire news has arrived. Senators Bob Dole (R-KS) and Charles Grassley
- * (R-IA) have announced they are sponsoring, and probably introducing very
- * soon, new Internet censorship legislation even more threatening
- * to free speech than the Exon "Communications Decency Act". Unlike the
- * Leahy alternative to the CDA, the Dole/Grassley legislation is not,
- * according to sponsor Grassley, intended to be offered as a replacement
- * for the Exon language in the Senate telecom reform bill, but rather is
- * intended as free-standing bill. As CDT, a member of the Stop314 Coalition
- * with EFF, notes, the advent of the Dole/Grassley bill 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. Please, take the very
- * few minutes it will require to call your Senators and sign the Leahy
- * petition, as detailed in the lead article below. More info on the
- * Dole/Grassley proposal is in the Newsbytes section of this newsletter.
-
-
- Below is the latest action alert from the Stop314 Coalition (including EFF).
- *This may look like alerts you've seen on previous days and weeks, but it
- is new.* Please take the time to check it out - the time has come to
- direct your activism toward your Senators. The petition drive for the
- Leahy opposition bill has receive over 20,000 signatures in a very short
- time, but it is not enough. Please pardon the length of this EFFector,
- but this is the most important action alert that has appeared in EFFector
- this year.
-
- ________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE EXON/GORTON COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
-
- Update: -Senate changes gears, we're caught with little time
- -What You Can Do Now (US and non-US citizens)
-
- CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
- June 6, 1995
-
- PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT
- REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL June 20, 1995
- REPRODUCE THIS ALERT ONLY IN RELEVANT FORUMS
-
- Distributed by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org)
-
- [NOTE: EFF has added two bracketed additions to the "What You Can Do Now"
- section, in light of the sudden appearance of the Dole/Grassley bill
- and the Lott amendment.]
-
- ________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- CONTENTS
- The Latest News
- What You Can Do Now -- U.S. and non-U.S. citizens
- Senate Contact List
- For More Information
- List Of Participating Organizations
-
- ________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- THE LATEST NEWS
-
- The Senate is ready to act on the Telecommunications Reform Bill this
- week, perhaps as soon as Wednesday, June 7th. We had thought the
- Counter Terrorism bill would take all week, but the Senate changed its
- schedule without consulting us. :-)
-
- (We sincerely apologize for issuing another alert on the heels of the
- prior one, but the Senate's readiness to move on this legislation was
- not anticipated. We'll watch out for such a situation again and avoid
- releasing two alerts so close together in the future. We also apologize
- for the length of this Alert, but it contains the entire Senate contact
- info.)
-
- Note that there are few people who don't know about the bill. However
- if you are unfamiliar with the bill, take a moment to retrieve the
- materials listed in the "For More Information" section.
-
- ________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW -- U.S. and non-U.S. citizens
-
- The Telecomm Reform Bill, will, in all likelihood, include either the
- Exon Amendment (formerly the Communications Decency Act) or the Leahy
- Amendment. It is essential that the Leahy language be substituted for
- Exon's, and therefore it is essential:
-
- 1. That all citizens call or fax their Senators as soon as possible.
- There is no time for written letters and email is too easily
- discounted or ignored. Non-U.S. citizens should contact Vice
- President Gore. Note, if you decide to send a fax, you'll want to
- write an expanded version of the statement below.
-
- It's very important that you always be cool, collected, and polite.
-
- U.S. citizens:
-
- <call your Senators' offices, contact info below>
- "Hello, Senator ________'s office"
- "Hi, I'm a constituent and would like to register my
- opinion on the Telecommunications Reform bill to the
- Senator."
- "Hold On please. Alright, go ahead."
- "Please vote to remove the Communications Decency Act provision
- (Title 4 of S652) from the Telecomm Reform bill and
- replace it with the Leahy alternative (S714). My name and
- address is ________."
- "Thanks for calling."
- <click>
-
- [Addition in light of emergency update: Ask your Senators to also
- oppose the Lott amendment S.714, and to oppose the Dole/Grassley
- alternative to the CDA.]
-
- Non-U.S. citizens:
- <call, fax, or send email to Vice President Gore>
- "Dear Vice President Gore,
-
- The world looks to the United States as one leader in
- developing a Global Information Infrastructure. Title 4 of
- the Telecomm Reform bill (the Communications Decency Act)
- [like the Dole/Grassley Internet censorship bill,]
- imperils that leadership. Please work to remove it from the
- Telecomm Reform bill (S652) and replace it with Senator
- Leahy's sensible alternative (S714). I'm calling from
- ____________."
-
-
- 2. Send VTW a note telling us what you did. If you contacted your two
- Senators, send a letter to vtw@vtw.org with a subject line of
- "XX ack" where "XX" is your state. For example:
-
- To: vtw@vtw.org
- Subject: OH ack
-
- I called my Ohio Senators and expressed my opinion.
-
- If you contact Senators outside your state, please let us know what
- state you're from.
-
- If you contacted Vice President Gore, send a letter to vtw@vtw.org with
- a subject line of "gore ack". For example:
-
- To: vtw@vtw.org
- Subject: gore ack
-
- I called VP Gore and expressed my opinion. I'm from France.
-
- An automatic responder will return an updated contact tally.
-
- 3. Forward this Alert to relevant forums on other online services and
- BBS's. Check the letter you get back to see which Senators are
- underrepresented by citizen contacts. Forward the Alert to any
- friends and colleagues in those states.
-
- 4. If you haven't yet signed the petition to support Sen. Leahy,
- do so now. Send mail to vtw@vtw.org with a subject line of
- "send petition" for directions.
-
- 5. Congratulate yourself! Your two-minute activism joins that of many
- thousands of others over the past two months.
-
- ________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- SENATE CONTACT LIST
-
- Vice President Gore can be reached at:
-
- White House comment line
- Telephone: (202) 456-1111 (M-F 9-5 EST)
- Facsimile: (202) 456-2461 (M-F 9-5 EST)
- Email: vice-president@whitehouse.gov
-
-
- US Senate Listing:
-
- D ST Name (Party) Phone Fax
- = == ============ ===== ===
- R AK Murkowski, Frank H. 1-202-224-6665 1-202-224-5301
- R AK Stevens, Ted 1-202-224-3004 1-202-224-1044
- D AL Heflin, Howell T. 1-202-224-4124 1-202-224-3149
- R AL Shelby, Richard C. 1-202-224-5744 1-202-224-3416
- D AR Bumpers, Dale 1-202-224-4843 1-202-224-6435
- D AR Pryor, David 1-202-224-2353 1-202-224-8261
- R AZ Kyl, Jon 1-202-224-4521 1-202-224-2302
- R AZ McCain, John 1-202-224-2235 1-202-228-2862
- D CA Boxer, Barbara 1-202-224-3553 na
- D CA Feinstein, Dianne 1-202-224-3841 1-202-228-3954
- D CO Campbell, Ben N. 1-202-224-5852 1-202-225-0228
- R CO Brown, Henry 1-202-224-5941 1-202-224-6471
- D CT Dodd, Christopher J. 1-202-224-2823 na
- D CT Lieberman, Joseph I. 1-202-224-4041 1-202-224-9750
- D DE Biden Jr., Joseph R. 1-202-224-5042 1-202-224-0139
- R DE Roth Jr. William V. 1-202-224-2441 1-202-224-2805
- D FL Graham, Robert 1-202-224-3041 1-202-224-2237
- R FL Mack, Connie 1-202-224-5274 1-202-224-8022
- D GA Nunn, Samuel 1-202-224-3521 1-202-224-0072
- R GA Coverdell, Paul 1-202-224-3643 1-202-228-3783
- D HI Akaka, Daniel K. 1-202-224-6361 1-202-224-2126
- D HI Inouye, Daniel K. 1-202-224-3934 1-202-224-6747
- D IA Harkin, Thomas 1-202-224-3254 1-202-224-7431
- R IA Grassley, Charles E. 1-202-224-3744 1-202-224-6020
- R ID Craig, Larry E. 1-202-224-2752 1-202-224-2573
- R ID Kempthorne, Dirk 1-202-224-6142 1-202-224-5893
- D IL Moseley-Braun, Carol 1-202-224-2854 1-202-224-2626
- D IL Simon, Paul 1-202-224-2152 1-202-224-0868
- R IN Coats, Daniel R. 1-202-224-5623 1-202-224-8964
- R IN Lugar, Richard G. 1-202-224-4814 1-202-224-7877
- R KS Dole, Robert 1-202-224-6521 1-202-224-8952
- R KS Kassebaum, Nancy L. 1-202-224-4774 1-202-224-3514
- D KY Ford, Wendell H. 1-202-224-4343 1-202-224-0046
- R KY McConnell, Mitch 1-202-224-2541 1-202-224-2499
- D LA Breaux, John B. 1-202-224-4623 na
- D LA Johnston, J. Bennett 1-202-224-5824 1-202-224-2952
- D MA Kennedy, Edward M. 1-202-224-4543 1-202-224-2417
- D MA Kerry, John F. 1-202-224-2742 1-202-224-8525
- D MD Mikulski, Barbara A. 1-202-224-4654 1-202-224-8858
- D MD Sarbanes, Paul S. 1-202-224-4524 1-202-224-1651
- R ME Snowe, Olympia 1-202-224-5344 1-202-224-6853
- R ME Cohen, William S. 1-202-224-2523 1-202-224-2693
- D MI Levin, Carl 1-202-224-6221 na
- R MI Abraham, Spencer 1-202-224-4822 1-202-224-8834
- D MN Wellstone, Paul 1-202-224-5641 1-202-224-8438
- R MN Grams, Rod 1-202-224-3244 1-202-224-9931
- R MO Bond, Christopher S. 1-202-224-5721 1-202-224-8149
- R MO Ashcroft, John 1-202-224-6154 na
- R MS Cochran, Thad 1-202-224-5054 1-202-224-3576
- R MS Lott, Trent 1-202-224-6253 1-202-224-2262
- D MT Baucus, Max 1-202-224-2651 na
- R MT Burns, Conrad R. 1-202-224-2644 1-202-224-8594
- R NC Faircloth, D. M. 1-202-224-3154 1-202-224-7406
- R NC Helms, Jesse 1-202-224-6342 1-202-224-7588
- D ND Conrad, Kent 1-202-224-2043 1-202-224-7776
- D ND Dorgan, Byron L. 1-202-224-2551 1-202-224-1193
- D NE Exon, J. J. 1-202-224-4224 1-202-224-5213
- D NE Kerrey, Bob 1-202-224-6551 1-202-224-7645
- R NH Gregg, Judd 1-202-224-3324 1-202-224-4952
- R NH Smith, Robert 1-202-224-2841 1-202-224-1353
- D NJ Bradley, William 1-202-224-3224 1-202-224-8567
- D NJ Lautenberg, Frank R. 1-202-224-4744 1-202-224-9707
- D NM Bingaman, Jeff 1-202-224-5521 na
- R NM Domenici, Pete V. 1-202-224-6621 1-202-224-7371
- D NV Bryan, Richard H. 1-202-224-6244 1-202-224-1867
- D NV Reid, Harry 1-202-224-3542 1-202-224-7327
- D NY Moynihan, Daniel P. 1-202-224-4451 na
- R NY D'Amato, Alfonse M. 1-202-224-6542 1-202-224-5871
- D OH Glenn, John 1-202-224-3353 1-202-224-7983
- R OH Dewine, Michael 1-202-224-2315 1-202-224-6519
- R OK Inhofe, James 1-202-224-4721
- R OK Nickles, Donald 1-202-224-5754 1-202-224-6008
- R OR Hatfield, Mark O. 1-202-224-3753 1-202-224-0276
- R OR Packwood, Robert 1-202-224-5244 1-202-228-3576
- R PA Santorum, Rick 1-202-224-6324 1-202-228-4991
- R PA Specter, Arlen 1-202-224-4254 1-202-224-1893
- D RI Pell, Claiborne 1-202-224-4642 1-202-224-4680
- R RI Chafee, John H. 1-202-224-2921 na
- D SC Hollings, Ernest F. 1-202-224-6121 1-202-224-4293
- R SC Thurmond, Strom 1-202-224-5972 1-202-224-1300
- D SD Daschle, Thomas A. 1-202-224-2321 1-202-224-2047
- R SD Pressler, Larry 1-202-224-5842 1-202-224-1259*
- R TN Thompson, Fred 1-202-224-4944 1-202-228-3679
- R TN Frist, Bill 1-202-224-3344 1-202-224-8062
- R TX Hutchison, Kay Bailey 1-202-224-5922 1-202-224-0776
- R TX Gramm, Phil 1-202-224-2934 1-202-228-2856
- R UT Bennett, Robert 1-202-224-5444 1-202-224-6717
- R UT Hatch, Orrin G. 1-202-224-5251 1-202-224-6331
- D VA Robb, Charles S. 1-202-224-4024 1-202-224-8689
- R VA Warner, John W. 1-202-224-2023 1-202-224-6295
- D VT Leahy, Patrick J. 1-202-224-4242 1-202-224-3595
- R VT Jeffords, James M. 1-202-224-5141 na
- D WA Murray, Patty 1-202-224-2621 1-202-224-0238
- R WA Gorton, Slade 1-202-224-3441 1-202-224-9393
- D WI Feingold, Russell 1-202-224-5323 na
- D WI Kohl, Herbert H. 1-202-224-5653 1-202-224-9787
- D WV Byrd, Robert C. 1-202-224-3954 1-202-224-4025
- D WV Rockefeller, John D. 1-202-224-6472 na
- R WY Simpson, Alan K. 1-202-224-3424 1-202-224-1315
- R WY Thomas, Craig 1-202-224-6441 1-202-224-3230
-
- ________________________________________________________________________
-
-
- FOR MORE INFORMATION
-
- For more information on the Communications Decency Act, visit the
- following resources:
-
- Web Sites
- URL:http://www.panix.com/vtw/exon/
- URL:http://epic.org/
- URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
- URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html
-
- FTP Archives
- URL:ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/policy/freespeech/00-INDEX.FREESPEECH
- URL:ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
-
- Gopher Archives:
- URL:gopher://gopher.panix.com/11/vtw/exon
- URL:gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Alerts
-
- Email:
- vtw@vtw.org (put "send help" in the subject line)
- cda-info@cdt.org (General CDA information)
- cda-stat@cdt.org (Current status of the CDA)
-
- ________________________________________________________________________
-
- LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
-
- In order to use the net more effectively, several organizations have
- joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the
- Communications Decency Act.
-
- In alphabetical order:
-
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) infoaclu@aclu.org
- American Communication Association (ACA) comminfo@cavern.uark.edu
- American Council for the Arts
- Arts & Technology Society cyberguy@well.com
- biancaTroll productions bianca@bianca.com
- Californians Against Censorship Together BobbyLilly@aol.com
- Center For Democracy And Technology (CDT) info@cdt.org
- Centre for Democratic Communications (CDC) cshariff@aztec.co.za
- Center for Public Representation (CPR) mgpritch@facstaff.wisc.edu
- Computer Communicators Association community@pigpen.demon.co.uk
- Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility cpsr@cpsr.org
- Cross Connections staff@xconn.com
- Cyber-Rights Campaign cyber-rights@cpsr.org
- CyberQueer Lounge tomh@cyberzine.org
- Electronic Frontier Canada (EFC) efc@graceland.uwaterloo.ca
- Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) info@eff.org
- Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin eff-austin@tic.com
- Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) efa-info@efa.org.au
- Electronic Frontiers Houston (EFH) efh@efh.org
- Electronic Frontiers New Hampshire (EFNH) efnh@mv.com
- Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) info@epic.org
- Feminists For Free Expression (FFE) FFE@aol.com
- First Amendment Teach-In croth@omnifest.uwm.edu
- Florida Coalition Against Censorship pipking@mail.firn.edu
- FACTS (Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students)
- jt885291@oak.cats.ohiou.edu
- Hands Off! The Net baby-x@phanton.com
- Human Rights Watch (HRW) infohrw@hrw.org
- Inland Book Company David1756@aol.com
- Inner Circle Technologies, Inc. aka. NovaLink
- Inst. for Global Communications igc-info@igc.org
- National Libertarian Party 73163.3063@compuserve.com
- Libertarian Party (national) (LP) lphq@access.digex.net
- Marijuana Policy Project MPProject@AOL.com
- Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd.
- MindVox system@phantom.com
- National Bicycle Greenway cycleam@cruzio.com
- National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) ncac@netcom.com
- National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) info@nptn.org
- National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981 AFL-CIO) kip@world.std.com
- Oregon Coast Rural Information Service Cooperative
- Panix Public Access Internet info@panix.com
- People for the American Way jlessern@reach.com
- Rock Out Censorship TWieseROC@aol.com
- Society for Electronic Access sea@sea.org
- The Thing International BBS Network (TTNet) info@thing.nyc.ny.us
- The WELL info@well.com
- Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) vtw@vtw.org
-
- (Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities,
- not EFF chapters or divisions.)
-
- [End of Alert]
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Newsbytes
- ------------------
-
- * Dole/Grassley Legislation Threatens Online Free Speech - Worse Than CDA
-
- [This summary provided by Center for Democracy & Technology, info@cdt.org]
-
- 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.
-
- The text of the Dole/Grassley bill (currently unintroduced and without a
- bill number) is at:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/dole_grassley_95.bill
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/dole_grassley_95.bill
- gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts, dole_grassley_95.bill
-
-
- * New Draft of Communications Decency Legislation
-
- Sen. Exon, the Dept. of Justice, and some unnamed online service providers
- have attempted to fix the "bugs" in the Exon/Gorton Communications
- Decency Act, recently folded into the Senate telecom reform bill, S.652.
-
- All in all, the amendment fixes only superficial problems, leaving the
- core faults of the bill intact.
-
- The revisions are not currently out of the draft stage as far as can be
- determined, but may be intended to be introduced by Exon on the Senate
- floor in an attempt to convince the Senate that the CDA is "fixed" and
- should be preferred over the Leahy counter-legislation. The draft changes
- various minor parts of the bill (e.g. changes "knowingly and willfully" to
- "knowingly"); allows but fails dismally to require that the implementation
- of technology to enable the user to restrict or prevent access to "obscene,
- lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent" material may be used to avoid
- liability on the part of system operators; and separates out some
- offenses from others more clearly. The revisions also aim to
- satisfy the concerns the Justice Dept. had regarding the poorly written
- CDA's negative effect on law enforcement's ability to enforce "dial-a-porn"
- statutes and (to the DoJ's credit) its negative effect on the protection
- citizens enjoy under privacy laws. Whether the changes actually do
- address these problems is highly questionable.
-
- The Exon legislation revised by this draft amendment will remain
- unconstitutional, as it still attempts to ban expression protected by the
- First Amendment. Even the regulation of indecency has been limited by
- the courts to very narrowly defined circumstances - none of which apply
- to online media. Such restrictions, even if eventually overturned after
- years of expensive legal battles, will greatly hamper networking
- development and will stifle freedom of expression online, rendering all
- electronic communications subject to censorship so that adults are
- limited to accessing and expressing only that which is suitable for
- children.
-
- Additionally, the new version introduces a new problem: It protects only
- large commercial service providers from more-restrictive state laws. The
- draft states: "No State or local government may impose any liability
- for commercial activities or actions by commercial entities...that is
- inconsistent with the treatment of those violations under this section..."
- EFF concurs with the Center for Democracy & Technology in finding no
- valid argument for according greater protection to commercial than
- non-commercial speech. Indeed the entire history of commercial
- regulation and free speech jurisprudence in the U.S. points in the
- opposite direction. The CDA revisions would leave individuals, educational
- institutions, non-profit organizations, users' groups and all others
- besides commercial interests subject to whatever censorship measures states
- might wish to enact on whatever whim.
-
- The draft changes to the Exon bill, showing what was deleted and what was
- added, are available at:
-
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Legislation/Bills_by_number/s652_051995_amend.draft
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Legislation/Bills_by_number/s652_051995_amend.draft
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Legislation/Bills_by_number, s652_051995_amend.draft
-
-
- * Sen. Lott to Attempt to Rip Sysop Defenses from Exon Bill
-
- CDT in their alert regarding the Dole/Grassley bill also note that
- Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) has announced plans to introduce an amendment to
- S.652 to remove all of the service provider defenses from the Exon
- language (the CDA). *This move would make the Exon bill even more of a
- privacy and free speech threat than the original Exon bill.* Holding
- system operators liable for the posts of users over which they hold no
- editorial control threatens to put most providers out of business, stifle
- free expression online, and force the remaining providers to become
- full-time censors and invaders of user privacy.
-
- [Apologies to those who also receive CDT newsletters and get essentially
- two copies of this information, but its relevance here and its effect on
- the now extreme urgency of the main action alert in this newsletter and
- on the Leahy petition drive requires at least summarizing the main points
- here again.]
-
- The text of the Lott amendment will be available as soon as we receive it
- from:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/
- gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts
- Look for a file with "lott" in the filename.
-
-
- * The Other Side of the Coin: Feinstein Bill v. Bomb Material Online
-
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has drafted an amendment to the Senate
- Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention bill, S.735, of Sen. Dole. Like the CDA
- revisions, this remains an unintroduced draft, on hold until its parent
- bill is in open discussion in the Senate. The draft intends to:
- "prohibit the dissemination of information on the making of explosive
- materials with intent or knowledge that such information will be used for
- a criminal purpose."
-
- The draft amendment would mandate up to twenty years in prison for anyone
- who "teach[es] or demonstrate[s] the making of explosive materials, or...
- disseminate[s] by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part,
- the manufacture of explosive materials" if the person even "resonably
- should know" that such explosives or information "is [sic] likely to be
- used for, or in furtherance of, a federal offense or other criminal
- purpose affecting interstate commerce."
-
- Though the legislation does not directly mention the Internet, it is
- certainly drafted to apply to online media, and was inspired by what
- Feinstein perceives (or hears about in the media, since it is unlikely
- the Senator has actually ever logged in and found any bombmaking
- instructions online) as tools for terrorism on computer networks. The
- agenda is clear. Feinstein, herself a near-victim of a failed letter-bombing
- attempt, along with other legislators, representatives of the
- Administration, and spokespersons from the civil liberties community,
- participated in a May 11 Senate Terrorism Committee hearing on "The
- Availability of Bomb Making Information On The Internet". Feinstein
- suggested that bomb-making data be banned from the net, according to
- _Interactive_Week_. Calling such materials information that "teaches
- people to kill" she stated that it is "pushing the envelope of free
- speech to the extremes." Feinstein was asked, and did not answer, if
- she intended to ban such materials (e.g. the widely available
- _Anarchist_Cookbook_) from bookstores, after she suggested
- that the "doctrine of prior restraint is one we have to look at",
- because such information "isn't what this country is all about."
-
- Others likely to support the Feinstein amendment if introduced when the
- anti-terrorism bill hits the Senate floor include Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and
- the Justice Department. Kohl at the same hearing commented that Americans
- would be shocked at the "dark back alleys of the Internet... In other words,
- the industry acts now, or Congress will do it for you... After all, if we
- have the technology to get kids on the Internet, we have should have the
- technology to get them off." Expanding on the overused outrage-generator of
- protecting kids from the evils of electronic communications, Dep. Asst.
- Atty. Gen. Robert Litt, testified, "Not only do would-be terrorists have
- access to detailed information on how to construct explosives, but so do
- children."
-
- Experienced BBS and Internet users may marvel at the seeming gullibility
- of these hearing pronouncements. It is clear that Kohl, Feinstein and Litt
- are unware, or choose to ignore, that most of the material they are
- decrying is actually written by minors - neither very accurate nor
- likely at all to be used by terrorists - and that far more reliable
- information on topics like the anatomy of a bomb can be had from most
- public libraries (e.g. in the _Encyclopaedia_Britannica_), and from the
- U.S. government itself. Brock Meeks writing for _Interactive_Week_
- notes that the very bomb type used to destroy the Federal Building in
- Oklahoma City is covered in a "detailed recipe" in the Forestry
- Service's own readily available _Blaster's_Handbook_.
-
- Others at the hearing, including Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), warned against
- looking to censorship for a solution. Leahy retorted that the real problem
- is "harmful and dangerous conduct, not speech". Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA),
- who chaired the hearing, appeared to remain rather neutral on the issue,
- being neither certain that censorship and access restriction to online
- material was technically feasible, nor encouraged to call for censorship
- by the DoJ's admission that they had no evidence at all of crimes taking
- place as a result of information gathered from the Internet.
-
- The full text of the Feinstein draft can be found at
-
- http://www.eff.org/Bills_by_number/s735_95_feinstein_amend.draft
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Legislation/Bills_by_number/s735_95_feinstein_amend.draft
- gopher.eff.org, 1/Legislation/Bills_by_number, s735_95_feinstein_amend.draft
-
- There's plenty more to worry about from this and other anti-terrorism
- legislation, most of which proposes one or more unconstitional
- "solutions" to perceived problems, and many of which seek to expand, in
- some cases radically, law enforcement and intelligence wiretapping
- authority and abilities. These bills, archived by bill number, are
- also available in the Bills_by_number directory at the sites above.
-
-
- * Prodigy Potentially Liable for User Postings
-
- In a case that could have major ramifications for BBS system operators and
- Internet newsgroup moderators, a New York state trial court ruled that
- communications service provider Prodigy Services Company may be liable for
- potentially libelous statements made by one of its users. Prodigy was sued
- by the securities investment banking firm of Stratton Oakmont, Inc., and
- its president, Daniel Porush, for statements made by an unidentified poster
- on Prodigy's Money Talk bulletin board. The statements claimed that
- Stratton Oakmont committed criminal and fraudulant acts in connection with
- the initial public offering of stock of Solomon-Page, Ltd.
-
- Stratton Oakmont and Porush sued Prodigy, the volunteer moderator of the
- Money Talk forum, and the anonymous user who made the postings. Prodigy
- filed a motion for summary judgment, asking to be dismissed from the case
- on the claim that Prodigy could not be held responsible for the postings of
- its users.
-
- On May 24, 1995, the court held that Prodigy had editorial control over the
- messages in the Money Talk forum and was therefore liable for the content
- of those messages. According to the New York Supreme Court (which is a
- trial level court in New York), Prodigy's policy of systematically
- monitoring messages made it liable for the content of these messages.
-
- In addition, the court held that since Prodigy directed and controlled the
- actions of volunteer Board Leaders, at least for the limited purpose of
- monitoring and editing the Money Talk bulletin board, Prodigy was
- responsible for the actions of its Board Leaders.
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Calendar of Events
- ---------------------------
-
- This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to
- our members. EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker)
- are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date. Simlarly, government
- events, such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission, are
- marked with "!" in place of the "-" after the date.
-
- If you know of an event of some sort that should be listed here, please
- send info about it to Stanton McCandlish (mech@eff.org)
-
- The latest full version of this calendar, which includes material for
- later in the year as well as the next couple of months, is available from:
-
- ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff
- gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff
- http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff
-
-
- Updated: Jun. 6, 1995
-
-
- June 7-
- 9 - Third International Conference on Artificial Intelligence
- Applications on Wall Street; Pace University, New York City, NY.
- Contact: +1 914 763 8820 (voice), +1 914 763 9324 (fax)
- Email: satwell@mcimail.com
-
- June 8-
- 10 - Exploring the VideoClass Alternative; Raleigh, N. Carolina.
- Email: tom_russell@ncsu.edu
-
- June 11-
- 14 - Society & the Future of Computing (SFC'95); Tamarron Lodge,
- Durango, Colorado. Sponsored by the Assoc. for Computing
- Machinery, LANL, U. of Md., IEEE. Speakers will include Phil Agre
- (UCSD), Leslie Sandberg (Institute for Telemedicine), Wm.
- Halverson (PacBell), Don Norman (Apple), Linda Garcia
- (Congressional Office of Technology Assessment), John
- Cherniavsky (Natl. Science Found.) and several others.
- Email: sfc95@lanl.gov
- WWW: http://www.lanl.gov/LANLNews/Conferences/.sfc95/sfcHome.html/
-
- June 13-
- 15 - IDT 95 - 12th Congress on Information Markets and Industries;
- Paris, France. Organized by ADBS (a society of information
- professionals), ANRT (National Association of Technological
- Research), and GFII (French association of information industries).
- Contact: +33 1 43 72 25 25 (voice), +33 1 43 72 30 41 (fax)
-
- June 17-
- 19 - NECC'95: Emerging Technologies and Lifelong Learning: 16th Annual
- National Educational Computing Conf., sponsored by International
- Society for Technology in Education; Baltimore, Maryland.
- VP Gore and Sec'y. of Labor Robert Reich invited as keynote
- speakers. Other speakers include: John Phillipo (CELT), Frank
- Knott (MGITB)
- Contact: +1 503 346 2834 (voice), +1 503 346 5890 (fax)
- Email: necc95@ccmail.uoregon.edu
-
- June 18-
- 21 - ED-MEDIA'95; Graz, Austria. A world conference on educational
- multimedia and hypermedia. Sponsor: The Association for the
- Advancement of Computing.
- Contact: +1 804 973 3987 (voice)
- Email: aace@virginia.edu.
-
- June 24-
- 28 - Workshop on Ethical & Professional Issues in Computing;
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY. Deadline for submissions:
- Apr. 15.
- Contact: +1 518 276 8503 (voice), +1 518 276 2659 (fax)
- Email: cherkt@rpi.edu
-
- June 27-
- 29 - Women in Technology Conference: Channels for Change; Santa Clara
- Conv. Ctr., Santa Clara, Calif. Speakers include: Gloria Steinem.
- Sponsored by Int'l. Network of Women in Technology (WITI).
- Contact: +1 818 990 1987 (voice), +1 818 906 3299 (fax)
- Email: witi@crl.com
-
- June 28-
- 30 - INET '95 Internet Society 5th Ann. International Networking
- Conf.; Honolulu, Hawaii. Sponsored by Internet Society (ISoc).
- See Jan. 13 for proposal deadline
- Contact: +1 703 648 9888 (voice)
- FTP: ftp.isoc.org, /isoc/inet95/
- Gopher: gopher.isoc.org, 1/isoc/inet95
- WWW: http://www.isoc.org/inet95.html
- Email: inet95@isoc.org
-
- July 5-
- 7 - Key Players in the Introduction of Information Technology: Their
- Social Responsibility & Professional Training; Namur, Belgium.
- Sponsored by CREIS.
- Email: nolod@ccr.jussieu.fr, clobet@info.fundp.ac.be
-
- July 5-
- 8 - Alliance for Community Media International Conference and Trade
- Show. [See Jan. 31 for proposal submission deadline info].
- Contact: Alliance c/o MATV, 145 Pleasant St., Malden, MA 02148
- Fax: (617) 321-7121; Voice: Rika Welsh (617) 321-6400
- Email: matv@world.std.com
-
- July 5-
- 8 - 18th International Conf. on Research & Development in Information
- Retrieval; Sheraton Hotel, Seattle, Wash.
- Email: sigir95@u.washington.edu
-
- July 6-
- 7 ! Interoperability & the Economics of Information Infrastructure;
- Freedom Forum, Rosslyn, Virginia. IITF/NSF/Harvard/FFMSC joint
- workshop to "analyze and evaluate economic incentives and
- impediments to achieving interoperability in the National
- Information Infrastructure. The goal is to help agencies,
- associations, the Administration, and the Congress to develop
- sound policies for realizing the vision of a seamless,
- interoperating NII. Deadline for proposals: Mar. 17. Deadline
- for submissions: June 15.
- Contact: +1 617 495 8903 (voice), +1 617 495 5776 (fax)
- Email: kahin@harvard.edu
-
- July 11-
- 15 - '95 Joint International Conference: Association for Computers and
- the Humanties, and Association for Literacy and Linguistic
- Computing; UCSB, Santa Barbara, Calif. Will highlight the
- development of new computing methodologies for research and
- teaching in the humanities
- Contact: Eric Dahlin, +1 805 687 5003 (voice)
- Email: hcf1dahl@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu
-
- July 22-
- 26 - Syllabus'95; Sonoma State U., Rohnert Park, Calif.
- "The premier conference covering the use of technology in the
- curriculum"
- Contact: 1-800-773-0670 (voice, US-only), +1 408 746 200 (voice,
- elsewhere)
- Email: syllabus@netcom.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Quote of the Week
- --------------------------
-
- In light of the advent of Sen. Feinstein's draft bill, we'll keep last
- issue's quote of the week for this issue too:
-
- "It is no solution to define words as violence or prejudice as
- oppression, and then by cracking down on words or thoughts pretend that
- we are doing something about violence and oppression. No doubt it is
- easier to pass a speech code or hate-crimes law and proclaim the streets
- safer than actually to make the streets safer, but the one must never be
- confused with the other...Indeed, equating "verbal violence" with
- physical violence is a treacherous, mischievous business."
- - Jonathon Rauch, in an essay in _Harper's_Magazine_, May 1995
-
- Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe
- when bills to censor the Internet are swimming about in a sea of of
- surveillance legislation and anti-terrorism hysteria? Worried that in
- the rush to protect us from ourselves that our government representatives
- may deprive us of our essential civil liberties?
-
- Join EFF!
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: What YOU Can Do
- ------------------------
-
- * Communications Decency Act (the Exon Legislation)
-
- The Communications Decency Act poses serious threats to freedom of
- expression online, and to the livelihoods of system operators. The
- legislation also undermines several crucial privacy protections.
-
- Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.
- affairs office and/or legal counsel. Everyone should write to their own
- Senators and ask them to support the replacement of Exon's
- communications decency language in the Senate telecom reform bill s.652
- with S. 714, Sen. Leahy's alternative to the Comm. Decency Act. Explain
- quickly, clearly and politely, why you feel the Exon language is dangerous.
-
- S.652, the Senate telecom deregulation bill, now contains Sen. Exon's
- "Communications Decency Act" (formerly S.314.) The House version of the
- CDA, H.R.1004, is essentially stalled. The House telecom reform bill
- will almost certainly include the Leahy language, a fact that may be
- worth mentioning to your Senators.
-
- For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other
- dangerous legislation, see:
-
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/
- gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
-
- If you do not have full internet access, send your request
- for information to ask@eff.org.
-
- * The Dole/Grassley Draft Internet Censorship Bill
-
- As above, contact your Senators, and ask them to oppose this legislation,
- and to support the Leahy amendment to S.652.
-
-
- * The Lott Draft Amendment to the Exon Legislation
-
- As above, contact your Senators, and ask them to oppose this amendment to
- the Senate Telecom Bill. Ask the to not only oppose this but oppose all
- of the Communications Decency Act, urging them to support the Leahy
- alternative, currently S.714.
-
-
- * The Feinstein Draft Internet Censorship Bill
-
- As above, contact your Senators, and ask them to oppose the addition of
- any such legislation, particular that authored by Sen. Feinstein, to the
- Dole "Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention Act", S.735. You may also wish
- to express your concerns about other civil liberties problems raised by
- the bill, and encourage your Senator to vote against such proposals until
- a proper study and period of public evaluation an input have taken place.
-
-
- * Find Out Who Your Congresspersons Are
-
- Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress
- is one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of
- making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues.
-
- EFF has lists of the Senate and House with contact information, as well
- as lists of Congressional committees. These lists are available at:
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
-
- The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively.
- Those not in the U.S. should seek out similar information about their
- own legislative bodies. EFF will be happy to archive any such
- information provided. If you do not know who your Representatives are,
- you should contact you local League of Women Voters, who typically maintain
- databases that can help you find out.
-
-
- * Join EFF!
-
- You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard
- in government are important. You have probably participated in our online
- campaigns and forums. Have you become a member of EFF yet? The best way to
- protect your online rights is to be fully informed and to make your
- opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference. Join
- EFF today!
-
- For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any
- message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Administrivia
- =============
-
- EFFector Online is published by:
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation
- 1667 K St. NW, Suite 801
- Washington DC 20006-1605 USA
- +1 202 861 7700 (voice)
- +1 202 861 1258 (fax)
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- Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
- Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
- Hardcopy publications: pubs@eff.org
- General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org
-
- Editor:
- Stanton McCandlish, Online Services Mgr./Activist/Archivist (mech@eff.org)
-
- This newsletter printed on 100% recycled electrons.
-
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-
- To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or
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- End of EFFector Online v08 #07 Digest
- *************************************
-
- $$
-