adbarr
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response 77 of 85:
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Dec 12 00:56 UTC 1995 |
At the risk of being accused of abusing Grex resources - here is some more
information on the Cyberporn bill pending in Congress. Note that those who
cherish freedom of expression and thought should call the members of the
conference committee (Senate) in their jurisdiction (you are registered to
vote? I not, do so! This is grown-up stuff.) The following is over 230 lines
plus/minus:
Announced Date :: 8-DEC-1995
Subject :: CONGRESSIONAL BILL REGARDING INTERNET USE
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
A message regarding a proposed bill in congress which
may be of interest to Internet users, has been sent to
us from Merit.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>The U.S. House version of the federal telecommunications bill threatens
>academic freedom as well as freedom of speech.
>-- Jennie Meyer Howard
>-- Associate Dean, Learning Technologies
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>This isn't good news and it may put those of us that are in
>the Internet business in a very awkward position.
> -Jeff Ogden
> Merit
>
> @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
> Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995
> From: "Shabbir J. Safdar" <shabbir@VTW.ORG>
> To: vtw-announce@VTW.ORG
> Subject: ALERT: House is lost; we must call the Senate
>
> ========================================================================
> 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
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> 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 > >
~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ >
Posted by Richard K. Moore <rkmoore@internet-eireann.ie> >
Wexford, Ireland (USA citizen) > Editor: The Cyberjournal
(@CPSR.ORG) > > See the CyberLib at: > http://www.internet-eireann.
ie/cyberlib > See Cyber-Rights library: > http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/
nii/cyber-rights/ > > You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages and
online materials > for non-commercial use, provided they are copied in their
entirety, with > all headers, signatures, etc., intact. >
~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ > >
> Theresa L. Miller > Reference Librarian/Library Manager > Baker College
Library > 3403 Lapeer Rd. > Port Huron, MI 48060 > (810) - 989 - 2122 > (810) -
985 - 6920 fax > miller_t@porthuron.baker.edu >
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