🚀 go-pugleaf

 ========================================================================
      CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS
      (INCLUDING THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT AND THE HYDE AMDT)
 
         Short Update: The House Conference Committee voted for a terrible
                         bill.
 
         What You Can Do Now: Call the Senate conferees and tell them to
                                 oppose the infringements on free speech.
 
         CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION
                            Dec 6, 1995
 
       PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT
                 REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL December 20, 1995
                REPRODUCE THIS ALERT ONLY IN RELEVANT FORUMS
      This alert has been forwarded to you by Bob Bickford  rab@well.com
 
 ________________________________________________________________________
 CONTENTS
         The Latest News
         What You Can Do Now
         List of Participating Organizations (changed)
 
 ________________________________________________________________________
 THE LATEST NEWS
 
 Today the House Conference committee voted to criminalize "indecent
 material" on electronic networks.  The Christian Coalition, which has
 pushed for such restrictions throughout the year, now smells blood and
 is closing in for the kill.  If we lose the Senate Conference Committee
 vote, we will have lost a tremendous amount of our First Amendment
 rights.  All content on the Internet will be dumbed down to the level of
 Saturday morning cartoons.
 
 Parents, educators, libraries and individuals who post anything on the
 Internet that someone, somewhere considers indecent will be subject
 to jail time and fines.   Traditional fiction and many great works of
 art will fall prey to this law.
 
 Even if the Federal government does not prosecute every violation of
 this law, the chilling effect on speech throughout the United States will
 be severe.  Intimidation is a tremendous persuader.
 
 Please call now and tell the Senate conferees to oppose the unconstitutional
 indecency restrictions in the Telecomm.
 
 For a more detailed analysis of the language that passed, check the WWW
 or Gopher sites of the ACLU, CDT, EFF, and EPIC.
 
 Three more alerts, after this one, are expected: the full House floor vote
 on the Telecomm bill, the full Senate floor vote on the Telecomm bill, and
 then the unlikely Presidential veto.
 
 ________________________________________________________________________
 WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
 
 1. All of the proposals available to the conference committee will
    fundamentally restrict your speech on the Internet and other public
    networks.  Look at the list below and call the Senators in your
    state and ask them to oppose them.  If none of the members are in
    your state, call Sen. Dole.
 
    If we cannot convince the conference committee to make the right
    choices at this juncture, we will have positioned the Internet
    community as vulnerable to widespread arrests throughout the next
    few years.
 
    If you're at a loss for words, try one of the following:
 
         Please oppose the unconstitutional Internet indecency restrictions,
         such as those passed by the House conference committee Telecomm bill
         and those proposed by Sen. J.J. Exon.   They will criminalize many
         forms of expression, including much art, music, and literature
         which should be protected by the First Amendment.
    or
         As a religious person and a parent, I oppose all the
         unconstitutional indecency restrictions currently proposed in the
         Telecomm bill.  I, the parent, am the best person to monitor my
         child's access to the Internet.
    or
         Although there is information on the Internet that I wouldn't
         allow my children to see, I don't agree with all the proposals in
         the Telecomm bill that would censor indecent material on the
         Internet.  I have parental control tools that are far more
         effective at controlling my children's access to the Internet
         than the legislation being proposed.
 
    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
 
 2. Send mail to vtw@vtw.org and let us know how it went.
 
         $ Mail vtw@vtw.org
         Subject: phoned Senator XXX
 
         They thanked me for my opinion and said they had received many
         calls speaking out against net censorship.
 
         ^D
         Mail sent!
 
 3. If you run any sort of system that allows a welcome message for all
    users, please add the following:
 
        The Christian Coalition and others are lobbying for broad
        infringements on free speech net by passing legislation that "dumb
        down" Internet content to that which is acceptable to children.  In
        addition, services like this one might become liable for what their
        users say and read on the Internet.  Please call Congress now; for
        more info URL:http://www.vtw.org/ or send mail to files@vtw.org with
        "send alert" in the subject line. (12/6/95)
 
    If you have a Web page that gets a lot of traffic, please add the
    following link:
 
         <a href="http://www.vtw.org/">
         Stop the Christian Coalition and others from restricting your
         online speech! (12/6/95)</a>
 
 4. This is a very tense week.  All indications are that a very very
    bad bill will get passed.
 
 ________________________________________________________________________
 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 * Association
 of Alternative Newsweeklies * 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 * 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. * 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 *
 Voters Telecommunications Watch
 
 (Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities,
  not EFF chapters or divisions.)
 
 ________________________________________________________________________
         End Alert