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>Internet Censors Close to Success: Act Now
>
>By Howard Rheingold
>syndicated by King Features
>electronic rights: Howard Rheingold
>Permission granted to redistribute this column (Internet Censors Close to
>Success) freely.
>
>The religious right is only weeks away from final victory in its battle to
>shut American citizens out of the Internet as a medium for uncensored
>communication.
>
>The story so far: The censorship drive began in February, 1995, with the
>introduction of S.314, "The Computer Decency Act of 1995" (CDA), by Senator
>Jim Exon (D-NE), as part of the much larger telecommunications deregulation
>bill, S 652. Senator Leahy (D-VT) countered CDA with "The Family
>Empowerment Act," which mandates investigation of technical means for
>parents to determine what comes into their homes and schools for their
>children to see, according to their own family's values. CDA passed the
>Senate on June 14; Leahy's amendment lost. On June 21, opposition to the
>Exon amendment was voiced even among prominent Republicans, including
>Representative Gingrich (R-GA).
>
>Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the "Internet
>Freedom and Family Empowerment Act" (HR 1978), offering an approach that
>would empower parents, rather than the State, to make decisions abot what
>is considered decent in every household.
>
>The time has come for Congress to choose between competing amendments.
>Whether our representatives ultimately go down the road to censorship
>advocated by the Exon amendment, or choose the parental empowerment
>approach advocated by the Cox-Wyden amendment, depends on the outcome of
>the battle for public opinion. In the final weeks of 1995, the campaigns
>for and against the CDA are approaching the decisive moment. Unless many
>people who favor freedom of expression make telephone calls, write letters,
>send faxes, right now, as the pro-censorship forces certainly are doing,
>the censors are going to win.
>
>An extremist minority is pressing for final legislation that is even more
>restrictive than the Exon bill. This faction, now openly led by the
>religious right, seeks to use criminal and civil penalties to hold all
>Americans' online conversations, web pages, public archives to a rigidly
>defined standard for decency of content. The bill's zealous backers make it
>clear that their interpretation of decency in the new medium is far more
>strict than those standards upheld by the Supreme Court in regard to other
>forms of speech.
>
>Discourse on the Net will be restricted to that which is judged suitable
>for young children in strict households. The liability issues, if upheld,
>will mean the death of the online services industry, which has been growing
>explosively. America will hand off yet another native industry to global
>competitors. Until and unless the Supreme Court decides thatthe legislation
>is unconstitutional, the decency cops, with the full power of the law, will
>have their day.
>
>In October, 1995, Commerce committee chairman Larry Pressler received a
>letter signed by The Christian Coalition's Ralph Reed, Eagle Forum's
>Phyllis Schafly, the Reverends Donald Wildmon and Louis Sheldon of the
>American Family Association and Traditional Values Coalition, and former
>Attorney General Edwin Meese, that threw the weight of the top
>organizations of the religious right behind legislation that would
>establish a Federal decency police and shut down the emerging online
>communications industry by making online service providers criminally
>liable for the activities of their customers. The battle of the CDA is part
>of the sweeping telecommunications deregulation bill (S 652), now
>approaching the final stages of Congressional decision-making.
>
>Call or fax Newt Gingrich's office now (1-202-225-4501 voice;
>1-202-225-4656 fax), and cc Senator Robert Dole (R-KS) (1-202-224-6521
>voice; 1-202-228-1245 fax).Tell them you favor the parental control tools
>proposed in the Cox-White-Wyden amendment to the chilling and unnecessary
>Exon amendment. Tell them that you, not the the Federal government, are the
>proper authority to decide what is decent in your household.
>
>For more information, check web sites http://www.vtw.org/exon/ and
>URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html . Gopher archives:
>gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Alerts. Via e-mail, send a message to
>vtw@vtw.org (put "send alert" in the subject line for the latest alert, or
>"send cdafaq" for the CDA FAQ).
>
>Stay informed, spread the word, make those calls.
>
>END
>
>Howard Rheingold hlr@well.com
>http://www.wll.com/user/hlr/
>Fax: 415 388 3913
>what it is ----->is------>up to us
>

David Smith               * "We truly believe that even though we live in an
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President, EFF-Austin     *  can't be beaten down. This is the true spirit
of the
Board of Directors, CTCLU *  EFF-Austin member"  -- John Woo