======================================================================== CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE EXON/COATS COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT (SEE THE LIST OF CAMPAIGN COALITION MEMBERS AT THE END) Update: -Latest News:Congress is about to pass the Telecommunications bill. It includes the censorship provisions we have fighting so hard to keep out. -What You Can Do Now: Call Congress and ask them to put off the vote on the Telecomm bill until after the break. CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT Dec 21, 1995 PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL Jan 1, 1996 REPRODUCE THIS ALERT ONLY IN RELEVANT FORUMS ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS What You Can Do Now The Latest News Chronology of the CDA For More Information List Of Participating Organizations ________________________________________________________________________ WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW Congress is about to vote on the Telecommunications Deregulation bill, which will regulate cyberspace to the point where it begins to resemble a sanitized, Saturday-morning cartoons environment. We can still stop this if the vote on the Telecomm bill can be put off until after the holidays. 1. Call the Conferees and ask them to not sign off on the conference report. Once the committee signs off on the language, the bill goes to the floor. If we can hold the bill up until after the recess, we have a shot at removing the net censorship provisions. Please do not sign the conference report for S652/HR1555 until after the holidays. It will squash the Internet's potential as a medium for commerce, democracy, and education and needs more thought. It also allows the FCC power to over-regulate the net. Happy holidays. Senate members of the Conference Committee P ST Name and Address Phone Fax = == ======================== ============== ============== R MT Burns, Conrad R. 1-202-224-2644 1-202-224-8594 D HI Inouye, Daniel K. 1-202-224-3934 1-202-224-6747 D SC Hollings, Ernest F. 1-202-224-6121 1-202-224-4293 D WV Rockefeller, John D. 1-202-224-6472 n.a. D NE Exon, J. J. 1-202-224-4224 1-202-224-5213 R AZ McCain, John 1-202-224-2235 1-602-952-8702 R SD Pressler, Larry 1-202-224-5842 1-202-224-1259 R WA Gorton, Slade 1-202-224-3441 1-202-224-9393 R AK Stevens, Ted 1-202-224-3004 1-202-224-1044 R MS Lott, Trent 1-202-224-6253 1-202-224-2262 D KY Ford, Wendell H. 1-202-224-4343 1-202-224-0046 R KS Dole, Robert 1-202-224-6521 1-202-228-1245 House members of the Conference Committee Dist ST Name, Address, and Party Phone Fax ==== == ======================== ============== ============== 6 GA Gingrich, Newt (R) 1-202-225-4501 1-202-225-4656 14 CA Eshoo, Anna G. (D) 1-202-225-8104 1-202-225-8890 6 TN Gordon, Bart (D) 1-202-225-4231 1-202-225-6887 27 NY Paxon, Bill 1-202-225-5265 1-202-225-5910 7 GA Barr, Bob (R) 1-202-225-2931 n.a. 1 IL Rush, Bobby L. (D) 1-202-225-4372 1-202-226-0333 27 CA Moorhead, Carlos J. (R) 1-202-225-4176 1-202-226-1279 6 FL Stearns, Clifford B. (R) 1-202-225-5744 1-202-225-3973 4 NY Frisa, Daniel (R) 1-202-225-5516 1-202-225-4672 6 CO Schaefer, Daniel (R) 1-202-225-7882 1-202-225-7885 14 IL Hastert, J. D. (R) 1-202-225-2976 1-202-225-0697 7 MA Markey, Edward J. (D) 1-202-225-2836 1-202-225-8689 23 CA Gallegly, Elton (R) 1-202-225-5811 1-202-225-1100 6 IL Hyde, Henry J. (R) 1-202-225-4561 1-202-226-1240 26 CA Berman, Howard L. (D) 1-202-225-4695 1-202-225-5279 8 TX Fields, Jack (R) 1-202-225-4901 1-202-225-2772 6 TX Barton, Joseph (R) 1-202-225-2002 1-202-225-3052 5 TX Bryant, John (D) 1-202-225-2231 1-202-225-9721 14 MI Conyers Jr., John (D) 1-202-225-5126 1-202-225-0072 16 MI Dingell, John D. (D) 1-202-225-4071 1-202-225-7426 1 AR Lambert-Lincoln, Blanche (D) 1-202-225-4076 1-202-225-4654 10 OH Hoke, Martin R. (R) 1-202-225-5871 1-202-226-0994 5 IL Flanagan, Michael (R) 1-202-225-4061 n.a. 4 OH Oxley, Michael G. (R) 1-202-225-2676 1-202-226-1160 1 CO Schroeder, Patricia (D) 1-202-225-4431 1-202-225-5842 9 VA Boucher, Rick (D) 1-202-225-3861 1-202-225-0442 1 WA White, Rick (R) 1-202-225-6311 1-202-225-2286 6 VA Goodlatte, Robert W. (R) 1-202-225-5431 1-202-225-9681 3 VA Scott, Robert C. (D) 1-202-225-8351 1-202-225-8354 2 WI Klug, Scott (R) 1-202-225-2906 1-202-225-6942 18 TX Jackson-Lee, Sheila (D) 1-202-225-3816 n.a. 13 OH Brown, Sherrod (D) 1-202-225-3401 1-202-225-2266 5 IN Buyer, Steve (D) 1-202-225-5037 n.a. 7 VA Bliley Jr., Thomas J. (R) 1-202-225-2815 1-202-225-0011 2. Call your own legislator and ask them to vote against the Telecomm bill when it comes to the floor. A list of phone numbers for Congress is available at either: URL:http://www.vtw.org/congress/ or you can call the capitol switchboard at: 202 224-3121 If you are at a loss for words, try saying this: The Telecomm Deregulation (S652/HR1555) bill contains language that would "dumb down" the Internet to the level of Saturday morning cartoons. This will squash its potential as a medium for commerce, democracy, and education and allows the FCC the power to over-regulate it. Please vote against it. Happy holidays. 3. If the Congress passes the bill, the President is expected to sign it. You need to call the President and tell him that this bill is bad for the future of electronic commerce. You can reach the White House comment line at: 202-456-1111 If you're at a loss for words, try the following: Please do not sign the Telecommunications Deregulation bill (S652/ HR1555). Its restrictions on free speech will squash the Internet's potential as a medium for commerce, democracy, and education and leave open the chance for the FCC to over-regulate it. Happy holidays. 4. Although we don't recommend the use of email, there is a service at http://www.government.org/ that allows you to send email to Congress. Know that most staffers will not read this email in time to help stop this madness. ________________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST NEWS The conference committee debating the Telecomm bill may be near to a deal which would allow it to vote on the bill (which includes the net censorship provisions) before the break. If Congress were to break for recess without passing the bill, we have a chance to get the net censorship provisions. Just to refresh your memory, the House and Senate passed different pieces of legislation which addressed regulation of the Internet. Some of the legislation promoted a "parental control" approach, where parents, not the government, were the most appropriate to control children's access to speech on the Internet. (This approach was called Cox/Wyden and was approved 421-4 by the House) Other proposals advocated dumbing down the content of the Internet to that which is acceptable to children, and holding providers responsible for the speech of their users. These approaches were the Communications Decency Act (S314 approved 84-16 by the Senate), and the Manager's Amendment (slipped into the House Telecomm bill at the last second). Although we are trying very hard to get an electronic copy of the conference report, it's not fast in coming. As soon as we can get a copy into electronic form we'll put it up on several WWW pages. In the meantime, here's a summary of what the bill looks like. CRIMINALIZATION OF "INDECENT" MATERIAL The proposed legislation relies on the unconstitutional "indecency standard". Like the Exon Communications Decency Act, it seeks to regulate all indecent speech online. Indecency is a broad category that includes everything from George Carlin's "seven dirty words" to such classic novels and "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Lady Chatterly's Lover". The Supreme Court has ruled that restrictions on indecent speech are Constitutional only if they rely on the "least restrictive means". Broad indecency restrictions on interactive media do not satisfy the "least restrictive means" test, because interactive media allows users and parents tremendous control over the information they receive. The net effect of an indecency restriction would be to dumb down every conversation, web page, newsgroup, and mailing list on the Internet to the level of what is not offensive to children. Even the Department of Justice, who will have to enforce this law once it becomes public, says that the indecency standard is "constitutionally problematic". (Letter from Andrew Fois of US DOJ to Rep. Howard Berman, 12/20/95) CONTENT PROVIDERS, ONLINE SERVICES, AND LIBRARIES CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOR EXPRESSION ONLINE Although the proposed legislation tries to hold harmless those who simply function as "pipelines" for Internet access, there are many Internet businesses who act as more than just access providers. Hosting discussion groups, chat rooms, and other additional services, many Internet providers function as content providers as well as simple access providers. On top of this, the rest of us who provide content on the net (which includes everyone who sends mail, posts to Usenet, puts up a WWW page, maintains an ftp directory, or a gopher page) will fall under the indecency law, and be forced to screen our material and "dumb it down" to the level of what is not offensive to a child. This will include anything having to do with sexual abuse, abortion, or any strong language. "GOOD SAMARITAN" PROVISION REMAINS IN BILL The original Cox/Wyden/White legislation included a "Good Samaritan" provision which said that a provider who takes some actions to police their content cannot be penalized for not taking action in other places. UNPRECEDENTED CONTROL OVER ONLINE SPEECH FOR THE FCC The original Cox/Wyden/White bill prohibited FCC jurisdiction over the Internet. This provision has been removed from the proposed legislation, which now leaves the FCC open to make a case for regulating this new medium. The Internet has developed from a government project to a market-driven economic boom for thousands of businesses. Giving the FCC authority over this medium would significantly hinder the growth of this new industry. ________________________________________________________________________ CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT 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. 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 URL:http://www.vtw.org/ URL:http://epic.org/ URL:http://www.cpsr.org/ URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html URL:http://outpost.callnet.com/outpost.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 alert" in the subject line for the latest alert, or "send cdafaq" for the CDA FAQ) 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. American Civil Liberties Union * American Communication Association * American Council for the Arts * Arts & Technology Society * biancaTroll productions * Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression * Californians Against Censorship Together * Center For Democracy And Technology * Centre for Democratic Communications * Center for Public Representation * Citizen's Voice - New Zealand * Cloud 9 Internet *Computer Communicators Association * Computel Network Services * Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility * Cross Connection * Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer Lounge * Dutch Digital Citizens' Movement * ECHO Communications Group, Inc. * Electronic Frontier Canada * Electronic Frontier Foundation * Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin * Electronic Frontiers Australia * Electronic Frontiers Houston * Electronic Frontiers New Hampshire * Electronic Privacy Information Center * Feminists For Free Expression * First Amendment Teach-In * Florida Coalition Against Censorship * FranceCom, Inc. Web Advertising Services * Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands Off! The Net * HotWired Magazine * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle Technologies, Inc. * Inst. for Global Communications * Internet On-Ramp, Inc. * Internet Users Consortium * Joint Artists' and Music Promotions Political Action Committee * The Libertarian Party * Marijuana Policy Project * Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * Michigan Electronic Communities of Concerned Adults * MindVox * MN Grassroots Party * National Bicycle Greenway * National Campaign for Freedom of Expression * National Coalition Against Censorship * National Gay and Lesbian Task Force * National Public Telecomputing Network * National Writers Union * Oregon Coast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet * People for the American Way * Republican Liberty Caucus * Rock Out Censorship * Society for Electronic Access * The Thing International BBS Network * The WELL * Web Review Magazine * Wired Magazine * Voters Telecommunications Watch (Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities, not EFF chapters or divisions.) ________________________________________________________________________ End Alert ========================================================================