Possible Michigan internet censorship law/challenge

May 25 05:46 UTC 1999

The Grex board received this message earlier today:

Dear Board of Directors for Cyberspace Communications, Inc.:

I am a lawyer working with the American Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU"). The ACLU has brought several lawsuits to protect the rights of Internet users from government censorship. Just this winter the ACLU successfully challenged the Child Online Protection Act ("COPA"), which a Federal Judge held to be a violation of free speech rights of Internet users. As you may know, COPA made it a crime to place material on the Internet that is "harmful to minors." COPA was Congresses second attempt to censure speech on the Internet after the Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act ("CDA") in 1997 as unconstitutional. The ACLU has also succeeded in having similar state laws in New York and New Mexico declared unconstitutional.

Unfortunately, state and federal lawmakers continue to pass new laws aimed at suppressing free speech on the Internet. The Michigan state legislature has just passed such a law. Because any information transmitted over the Internet is accessible all over the world -- including Michigan -- any Internet user who transmits material that could be considered "harmful to minors" would be at risk of violating this new Michigan law.

Just as we challenged the CDA, COPA and earlier state censorship laws, the ACLU is gearing up to fight this new Michigan law. To defeat this new censorship law we need Internet speakers, like yourself, to be plaintiffs. There is no financial contribution required to participate; the ACLU and its cooperating attorneys pay all of the expenses and fees for the case. An agreement to participate as a plaintiff is, in part, lending your name to the case but most importantly helps us show the court why valuable speech, like the speech that takes place on Grex, is at risk under this law. Because Grex is a public access service and because of the many topical conferences Grex hosts, Grex would probably be a particularly strong plaintiff in a challenge to the Michigan law. The Michigan Internet censorship bill has been passed by the legislature and will almost certainly be signed by the governor. Unless a judge enjoins this law it will go into effect on August 1. Because it will take some time to file a lawsuit and have a hearing to enjoin the law we need to have a final group of plaintiffs ready as soon as possible. If you would like to be a plaintiff in this important lawsuit or have any questions please call or e-mail me.

J.C. Salyer

The Grex board talked over this message with some interest during the meeting tonight. The general conclusion was that, if the said law really impacted Grex directly (likely), and the ACLU case was acceptible to us (also likely) this is something Grex should seriously consider. John has offered to get in touch with J. C. Salyer and find out more about both the law and the case. This item is for discussing the law, the case, and Grex's position in the whole mess.

What do you think, Grex?

response 2 of 111:

May 25 10:33 UTC 1999

I'd like to see the specifics of any lawsuit before signing on
as a plantiff.  He is asking us to do otherwise.