Bill
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 15:33:04 -0800 (PST)
From: telstar@wired.com
To: Multiple recipients of list <cda96-l@willamette.edu>
Subject: VTW: Temporary Restraining Order issued against part of CDA
Voters Telecommunications Watch, or VTW, is a volunteer organization that
distributes useful digests of legislative activity influencing civil
liberties in cyberspace. They've also been the driving force behind
serveral Internet protest campaigns, including the recent Net Blackout.
In a word, VTW does GREAT work keeping Net users informed and explaining
how to get involved.
I'll occasionally repost VTW alerts to this list, but if you want to
subscribe for yourself, send a message to <vtw@vtw.org>.
Spread the word.
--Todd Lappin-->
Section Editor
WIRED Magazine
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CAMPAIGN TO PRESERVE FREE SPEECH ON THE INTERNET
Update: -Latest News: (2/15/96) A temporary restraining order has
been issued for one of the pieces of the CDA.
Free speech on the net is still at risk.
-What You Can Do Now: Support the challenges; give your
legislators a litmus test; display your First
Amendment pride
Feb 16, 1996 (expires Mar 15, 1996)
PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT
This alert and coalition coordinated by the
Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org)
________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
The Latest News
What You Can Do Now
Chronology of the CDA
For More Information
List Of Participating Organizations
________________________________________________________________________
THE LATEST NEWS
In the opening round of the court challenge to the Communications Decency
Act (CDA) by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF), Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and several
other plaintiffs, the judge has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO)
against one of portions of the Communications Decency Act. This is a very
good first step since any such injunction against a federal law is
extremely rare.
However, other restrictions on free speech were not enjoined
by the court, and Internet users remain subject to criminal penalties
for posting Constitutionally-protected material to public forums on the
Internet.
The judge issued a temporary restraining order barring enforcement
of the following section the CDA that deals with sending indecent speech.
(a) Whoever --
(1) in interstate or foreign communications --
(B) by means of a telecommunications device knowingly --
(i) makes, creates, or solicits, and
(ii) initiates the transmission of, any comment, request, suggestion,
proposal, image, or other communication which is obscene or indecent,
knowing that the recipient of the communication is under 18 years of
age, regardless of whether the maker of such communication placed the
call or initiated the communication;
Internet users should proceed cautiously pending a final judicial
determination of the CDA's constitutionality.
Details about the suit can be found at both the EPIC site
(http://www.epic.org/free_speech/censorship/) and the ACLU site
(http://www.aclu.org). Kudos go to the EPIC webmasters for organization
and ease of finding crucial materials.
Another suit is being filed by the American Reporter. You can follow it at
http://www.newshare.com/. We believe that a suit being filed by NARAL
on the abortion provisions is in the works as well, but do not have a URL
for you yet. As soon as one pops up, we'll publish it in the next alert.
There is also an effort to repeal the bill in the works. Senators Leahy
(D-VT) and Feingold (D-WI) introduced legislation to repeal the net censorship
language from the Telecomm bill. The bill is number S.1567 and you can
learn more about it from the Thomas Library of Congress WWW site at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c104:s.1567:
We must now turn to the courts and the elections to see satisfaction
on this issue. It's time for the net to come of age as a voting block.
We need visibility, volunteers, and dedication. Take a moment to
become involved.
________________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
[All of these are important, but none of them are urgent]
1. It's election time, and it's crucial that we make net censorship
a litmus test question for all candidates. The entire House, and
a third of the Senate are up for re-election this year. Let's make
sure nobody slips through without being asked where they stand on this
law, especially in light of the fact that a Federal judge has examined
the law and stated:
"I believe plaintiffs have ... raised serious, substantial, difficult
and doubtful questions which are fair grounds for this litigation."
If you have an exchange with a candidate, drop us a line at vtw@vtw.org.
We'll try and republish it.
2. Pick up a blue ribbon from the EFF, VTW, or CDT Blue Ribbon Campaign
pages and place it on your WWW page. Link it to a statement of your
own about why you believe speech on the Internet should have the same
rights as speech in print. Please also provide links to one or more
of the main Blue Ribbon Campaign pages such as the ones listed below,
so that visitors to your site can find out more about the campaign and
how to participate.
2. Pick up a blue ribbon from the EFF's blue ribbon page and place it on
your WWW page. Link it to a statement of *your own* about why you
believe speech on the Internet should have the same rights as speech
in print. Try wearing a real Blue Ribbon on your shirt or jacket.
Explain what it means to people who ask. The blue ribbon must spread
offline as well as around the Net for it to be effective. The Free
Speech Blue Ribbons can be found at:
URL:http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html
3. Help get Americans registered to vote! We need one person in each state
to contact their local Board of Elections and find out three things
about the November elections:
1. Can voters register by mail?
2. If so, where do you call to get a registration form sent to you?
3. What's the last day upon which you can mail in your registration?
Mail us the answers to these questions for your state to vtw@vtw.org.
We'll be building a voter WWW page with this information on it, and we'd
like to get copies of the voter registration forms, so please request
one. When it shows up, drop us a line at vtw@vtw.org and let us know
you got it. If you cannot scan it in, we'll do so and put it up on
on our page.
________________________________________________________________________
CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
Feb 15, '96 Justice Buckwalter in the US District Court of the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania grants a Temporary Restraining
Order against one piece of the CDA.
Feb 9, '96 Sen. Leahy (D-VT) and Feingold (D-WI) introduce S.1567,
a bill to repeal the net censorship provisions of the
Telecomm bill.
Feb 8, '96 President Clinton signs the Telecomm bill into law. Court
challenges are filed by the ACLU and the American Reporter.
Feb 1, '96 The House and Senate pass the Telecomm Bill (S652/HR1555)
414-16 and 91-5.
Jan 31, '96 The House and Senate prepare to signoff on the conference
report for the Telecomm bill and rush a vote to the floor.
Dec 7, '95 The House half of the Telecomm conference committee
votes the "indecency" standard for online speech into
the Telecomm Deregulation bill.
Sep 26, '95 Sen. Russ Feingold urges committee members to drop
Managers Amendment and the CDA from the Telecommunications
Deregulation bill
Aug 4, '95 House passes HR1555 which goes into conference with S652.
Aug 4, '95 House votes to attach Managers Amendment (which contains
new criminal penalties for speech online) to
Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555).
Aug 4, '95 House votes 421-4 to attach HR1978 to Telecommunications
Reform bill (HR1555).
Jun 30, '95 Cox and Wyden introduce the "Internet Freedom and Family
Empowerment Act" (HR 1978) as an alternative to the CDA.
Jun 21, '95 Several prominent House members publicly announce their
opposition to the CDA, including Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA),
Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Jun 14, '95 The Senate passes the CDA as attached to the Telecomm
reform bill (S 652) by a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bill
(S 714) is not passed, but is supported by 16 Senators
who understand the Internet.
May 24, '95 The House Telecomm Reform bill (HR 1555) leaves committee
in the House with the Leahy alternative attached to it,
thanks to Rep. Ron Klink of (D-PA). The Communications
Decency Act is not attached to it.
Apr 7, '95 Sen. Leahy (D-VT) introduces S.714, an alternative to
the Exon/Gorton bill, which commissions the Dept. of
Justice to study the problem to see if additional legislation
(such as the CDA) is necessary.
Mar 23, '95 S314 amended and attached to the telecommunications reform
bill by Sen. Gorton (R-WA). Language provides some provider
protection, but continues to infringe upon email privacy
and free speech.
Feb 21, '95 HR1004 referred to the House Commerce and Judiciary committees
Feb 21, '95 HR1004 introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-SD)
Feb 1, '95 S314 referred to the Senate Commerce committee
Feb 1, '95 S314 introduced by Sen. Exon (D-NE) and Gorton (R-WA).
________________________________________________________________________
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Web Sites (roughly in alphabetical order)
URL:http://www.vtw.org/
URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html
URL:http://www.cpsr.org/
URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
URL:http://epic.org/
Email:
cda-info@cdt.org (General CDA information)
cda-stat@cdt.org (Current status of the CDA)
________________________________________________________________________
LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES
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. Because the list is so long, we've been
forced to omit many fine organizations. See the VTW Free Speech Web Page
at URL:http://www.vtw.org/speech/ for the whole list.
Public Interest Organizations Businesses
Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) | ECHO (www.echonyc.com)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) | Hotwired (www.hotwired.com)
| Mindvox (www.phantom.com)
Center for Public Representation (CPR) | Panix (www.panix.com)
Computer Professionals for | The WELL (www.well.com)
Social Responsibility (CPSR) | Wired (www.wired.com)
Cyber-Rights Campaign +-------------------------
Electronic Fronter Foundation (EFF),
and independent regional Electronic
Frontier organizations
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Feminists for Free Expression Hands! Off The Net
Internet Users Consortium (IUC) Joint Artists' and Music
The Libertarian Party (LP) Promotions Political Action
National Campaign for Freedom of Expression Committee (JAMPAC)
National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) National Gay and Lesbian
National Writers Union (NWU) Task Force (NGLTF)
People for the American Way (PFAW) Republican Liberty Caucus
________________________________________________________________________
End Alert
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