======================================================================== CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION (SEE THE LIST OF CAMPAIGN COALITION MEMBERS AT THE END) Update: -Latest News: We've won our reprieve! Make this count! -What You Can Do Now: Meet with your congressperson and ask him or her to oppose the Telecomm bill CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT Jan 1, 1996 PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL Jan 30, 1996 REPRODUCE THIS ALERT ONLY IN RELEVANT FORUMS________________________________________________________________________CONTENTS What you can do now How to set up a really good meeting with congressional staff The latest news Chronology of the CDA For more information List of participating organizations________________________________________________________________________WHAT YOU CAN DO NOWAs you probably already know, Congress has attached legislation to theTelecommunications Deregulation bill that will criminalize much speechon the Internet that may be considered "indecent" with a two-year jailterm and a US$100,000 fine. Online activists have been fighting to havethese provisions removed from the bill from day one. Our latest thrusthas been to stall the passage of the bill, hoping to gather enoughsupport to have these provisions removed.As you also probably already know, Congress broke for the year withoutvoting on the Telecommunications Deregulation bill. Although Netactivists should not take too much credit for this nonevent, our loudobjections to the language being tossed around in the Conferencecommittee certainly helped slow things down a bit.We have bought ourselves some time, and now we must meet with ourlegislators and explain to them why the Telecommunications Deregulationbill will cripple the Internet as a medium for commerce, education, anddemocracy.We've done well so far in establishing ourselves and our concerns inWashington DC. We need to transform ourselves, evolve into the nextstep in the political process and begin the face-to-face work that willconvince candidates that we vote, and our votes turn on the FirstAmendment.Make a New Year's resolution: vow to have a face-to-face meeting withthe staff of your local legislator. Follow the directions below andhelp become a part of the growing Internet voter block.1. Set up a meeting at the local office of your congressperson. Sample phone call (a bit long for a call, but use it as a guide) Hi, I'm a constituent. The pending Telecommunications Reform bill contains a provision which, under the guise of protecting children from objectionable material on the Internet, will destroy the Internet as a viable medium for commerce, education, and democracy. I believe that there are other, less restrictive ways to address this issue. I am very concerned about this issue, and I would like to come in and meet with someone in your office to talk about why this bill must not be passed in its current form. How soon can I schedule a meeting? If you don't know who your local legislator is, try these methods: League of Women Voters: in many cities you can call them, and they will look up your legislator for you. Elections Board: many cities allow you to look up your legislator by calling the local Elections board. The Zipper: Stardot Consulting has set up a Congressional look-up service called the Zipper, which lets you look up your legislator by entering your zipcode. URL:http://www.stardot.com/zipper/ You can call the Capitol switchboard at: 202 224-3121 A list of phone numbers for Congress is available also at: URL:http://www.vtw.org/congress/2. Tell us about your meeting, preferably before and after, by sending us mail to feedback@vtw.org. We will be keeping track of feedback to help coordinate lobbying efforts in DC if and when Congress votes on this issue. $ Mail feedback@vtw.org Subject: meeting setup with Rep. Snodgrass I've got a meeting scheduled with Rep. Snodgrass's staff on Tuesday. I'm taking the Internet Parental Control FAQ and will educate them about why these laws are not only unnecessary, but will not help control kids' access to the net! ^D $ Mail feedback@vtw.org Subject: my meeting with Rep. Snodgrass I just got back from my meeting with Snodgrass's staff. It went well! They didn't know anything about the Internet, but I helped explain to them about parental control tools and the fact that current laws are *already* being enforced there, and they seemed to understand! ^D3. Relax! You have really done a lot to help the cause.________________________________________________________________________HOW TO SET UP A REALLY GOOD MEETING WITH CONGRESSIONAL STAFFREMEMBER THE POINT OF THE MEETINGYou must have a clear theme in the meeting. Even if you say it, and youthink it sounds corny, you don't want to leave a staffer guessing at whatyou want.The theme should be: The Telecom bill should not pass with the Net censorship provisions in its current form. House Speaker Gingrich and Senate Leader Dole have both expressed concern over these provisions. Please work with them to protect free speech and the Internet.It will help if you bring a personal Internet success story, such asimportant medical information found on the net, children get materialfor school reports, car owners talking to one another, camping tips,consumer product information from companies, local library cardcatalog, government information from CDC, Census, USDA, NASA, etc.SCHEDULING THE MEETINGWhen you set up your meeting, do not overload the meeting. It is betterto have a local office have three meetings with three people, ratherthan one meeting with nine people.A perfect meeting would include an Internet user, an Internet business(like an Internet provider or another company that uses the Net), and alibrarian. Pick someone to be the MC so things progress smoothly.If you're the only one going to the meeting, that is good too. It'sbetter to go to the meeting alone, rather than have no meeting at all.PREPARING FOR THE MEETINGMake sure you're familiar with the issues before going into themeeting. Take some time to read the Communications Decency Act FAQavailable from URL:http://www.vtw.org/pubs/cdafaq to get a sense of themyths you may have to dispel during the meeting. Also, become familiarwith, and take a copy of, the VTW Internet Parental Control FAQ to backup claims that there are many parental control devices out there thatallow parents to control what their children see on the Internet. Itis available from URL:http://www.vtw.org/pubs/ipcfaq.Are you ready? Ask yourself if you know why no new laws are necessaryto control information on the Internet.If the answer is that current laws about child porn and obscenematerial extend there already, which, combined with parental controltools, make such unconstitutional laws unnecessary, then you're ready.RUNNING THE MEETINGRemember that most staffers know nothing about the Internet. You'll have tobring them up to speed on the Net, as well as why the Net needs no new laws.It's crucial that you be polite. This is the first time they've met Internetvoters, and first impressions count.Dress appropriately, a jacket and tie are not out of the question. Be verypolite and patient. Never raise your voice or utter the following phrasesduring a meeting with a staffer: "I pay my taxes" or "You work for me, I'm a taxpayer" (We all pay taxes, this is moot) "I'll make sure you're not re-elected" (They haven't met that many Internet voters yet to convince them this might be true)Make sure everyone has a chance to speak, answer any questions they mighthave, and then thank the staffers for their time. Leave your name and numberso they can call you and ask you any questions they might think of later.AFTER THE MEETINGSend a thank you letter (faxing it is appropriate). Remember to let VTWknow that you had the meeting by sending email to feedback@vtw.org.________________________________________________________________________THE LATEST NEWSCongress has broken for the year without a vote on the Telecomm bill.We have been given the breathing room we sorely needed. We must nowconvince legislators to vote against the censorship legislation.Just to refresh your memory, the House and Senate passed different piecesof legislation, which addressed regulation of the Internet. Some of thelegislation promoted a "parental control" approach, where parents, notthe government, were the most appropriate to control children's accessto speech on the Internet. (This approach was called Cox/Wyden and wasapproved 421-4 by the House)Other proposals advocated dumbing down the content of the Internet tothat which is acceptable to children, and holding providers responsiblefor the speech of their users. These approaches were the CommunicationsDecency 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 conferencereport, it's not fast in coming. As soon as we can get a copy into electronicform, 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" MATERIALThe proposed legislation relies on the unconstitutional "indecency standard."Like the Exon Communications Decency Act, it seeks to regulate all indecentspeech online.Indecency is a broad category that may include everything from George Carlin's"seven dirty words" to such classic novels and The Catcher in the Rye,Lady Chatterly's Lover, The Scarlet Letter, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,Our Bodies, Our Selves, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and Catch-22.The Supreme Court has ruled that restrictions on indecent speech areconstitutional only if they rely on the "least restrictive means." Broadindecency restrictions on interactive media do not satisfy the "leastrestrictive means" test because interactive media allows users andparents tremendous control over the information they receive.The net effect of an indecency restriction would be to tone down everyconversation, web page, newsgroup, and mailing list on the Internetto the level of what is not offensive to children.Even the Department of Justice, who will have to enforce this law onceit becomes public, says that the indecency standard is "constitutionallyproblematic." (Letter from Andrew Fois of US DOJ to Rep. Howard Berman,12/20/95.)CONTENT PROVIDERS, ONLINE SERVICES, AND LIBRARIES CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOREXPRESSION ONLINEAlthough the proposed legislation tries to hold harmless those who simplyfunction as "pipelines" for Internet access, there are many Internetbusinesses who act as more than just access providers. Hosting discussiongroups, chat rooms, and other additional services, many Internet providersfunction as content providers as well as simple access providers.On top of this, the rest of us who provide content on the Net (which includeseveryone who sends mail, posts to Usenet, puts up a WWW page, maintains anftp directory, or a gopher page) will fall under the indecency law andwill be forced to screen their material and "dumb it down" to the level of what isnot offensive to a child.This will include anything having to do with sexual abuse, abortion, or anystrong language."GOOD SAMARITAN" PROVISION REMAINS IN BILLThe original Cox/Wyden/White legislation included a "Good Samaritan"provision, which said that a provider who takes some actions to policetheir content cannot be penalized for not taking action in other places.UNPRECEDENTED CONTROL OVER ONLINE SPEECH FOR THE FCCThe original Cox/Wyden/White bill prohibited FCC jurisdiction over theInternet. This provision has been removed from the proposed legislation,which now leaves the FCC open to make a case for regulating this newmedium.The Internet has developed from a government project to a market-driveneconomic boom for thousands of businesses. Giving the FCC authority overthis medium would significantly hinder the growth of this new industry.________________________________________________________________________CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACTDec 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 billAug 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 committeesFeb 21, '95 HR1004 introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-SD)Feb 1, '95 S314 referred to the Senate Commerce committeeFeb 1, '95 S314 introduced by Sen. Exon (D-NE) and Gorton (R-WA).________________________________________________________________________FOR MORE INFORMATIONWeb Sites (roughly in alphabetical order) URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ URL:http://epic.org/ URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html URL:http://www.cpsr.org/ URL:http://www.vtw.org/Email: vtw@vtw.org (put "ipcfaq" in the subject line for the Internet Parental Control FAQ 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 ORGANIZATIONSIn order to use the Net more effectively, several organizations havejoined forces on a single Congressional Net campaign to stop theCommunications Decency Act.American Civil Liberties Union * American Communication Association *American Council for the Arts * Arts & Technology Society * biancaTrollproductions * Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression * CaliforniansAgainst Censorship Together * Center For Democracy And Technology *Centre for Democratic Communications * Center for Public Representation* Citizen's Voice - New Zealand * Cloud 9 Internet *ComputerCommunicators Association * Computel Network Services * ComputerProfessionals for Social Responsibility * Cross Connection *Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer Lounge * Dorsai Embassy * DutchDigital Citizens' Movement * ECHO Communications Group, Inc. *Electronic Frontier Canada * Electronic Frontier Foundation *Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin * Electronic FrontiersAustralia * Electronic Frontiers Houston * Electronic Frontiers NewHampshire * Electronic Privacy Information Center * Feminists For FreeExpression * First Amendment Teach-In * Florida Coalition AgainstCensorship * FranceCom, Inc. Web Advertising Services * FriendlyAnti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands Off! The Net * HotWiredMagazine * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle Technologies, Inc. *Inst. for Global Communications * Internet On-Ramp, Inc. * InternetUsers Consortium * Joint Artists' and Music Promotions Political ActionCommittee * The Libertarian Party * Marijuana Policy Project *Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * Michigan Electronic Communities ofConcerned Adults * MindVox * MN Grassroots Party * National BicycleGreenway * National Campaign for Freedom of Expression * NationalCoalition Against Censorship * National Gay and Lesbian Task Force *National Public Telecomputing Network * National Writers Union * OregonCoast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet * People for the American Way* Republican Liberty Caucus * Rock Out Censorship * Society forElectronic 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========================================================================