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EFFector Online Volume 09 No. 14      Dec. 10, 1996       editors@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation        ISSN 1062-9424

US Supreme Court Schedules CDA Appeal: The Showdown Begins in Jan.

EFF Analysis of Draft "Database Protection" Treaty

NewsNybbles

   EFF's "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes" - Spread the Word!

   EFF Hosts anon.penet.fi Defense Fund

   SPA Drops ISP Lawsuits - "Code of Conduct" Still Advanced

Upcoming Events

Quote of the Day

What YOU Can Do

Administrivia

* See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more

nformation on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: US Supreme Court Schedules CDA Appeal: The Showdown Begins in Jan.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The US Supreme Court on Friday scheduled briefing in the government's 

appeal of the 3-judge Philadelphia federal court ruling that the 

Communications Decency Act provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 

of Justice cases against the recent Internet censorship law.

* Briefing Schedule for Supreme Court Appeal of CDA Constitutionality 

  Challenge (ACLU v. Reno, ALA v. DoJ merged case), as of Dec. 1996:

  Jan. 21, 1997 - Appellant (government) brief due

  Feb. 20, 1997 - Appellee (EFF, ACLU, ALA, CIEC, et al.) brief due

  Mar. 7, 1997 - Appellant reply brief due.

  Mar-Apr., 1997 - Oral arguments in the case will be scheduled

Court has chosen to review the lower court's decision in ACLU v. Reno -- 

the Court has *no choice* as to whether it will review that decision, so 

long as the government's appeal is not a frivolous one.  According to 

Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court can be compelled 

by Congress to hear certain kinds of appeals, even though normally 

Congress lets the Court set its own docket. Pursuant to Article III, the 

Telecom Act, like the Voting Rights Act and certain other legislative 

measures, grants the government an "appeal as of right" whenever a 

s very different from the normal petition-for-certiorari process by

contentious provisions of the Telecom Act be settled quickly, and wrote 

More importantly, the Court's announcement is not any indication, 

the lower court's ruling.

What is significant about the news is that the Supreme Court has 

expressed 1) an interest in hearing oral arguments as well as 2) an

nterest in speaking *directly* to the issues raised by the case (as

Legal teams from both of the original, now merged, cases will continue to 

EFF remains very optimistic of the outcome of this case, as the CDA fails 

not one but *all* constitutionality tests.

More information about the CDA and similar Internet censorship measures:

------------------------------

Subject: EFF Analysis of Draft "Database Protection" Treaty

-----------------------------------------------------------

Having failed to win the day in Congress, the US Administration is 

n ways that favor not the public interest, but a handful of commercial

nterests concerned with grabbing a property right to information itself

- some of it information owned by you, the taxpayer. Patent and Trademark 

Commissioner Bruce Lehman, the primary architect of the would-be 

criticism of these measures, even from the industrial interests he 

claims would most benefit from the changes.

EFF, in response to a US Commerce Dept. "Request for Comments" has analyzed

the likely effects of the GII copyright overhaul, which range from making 

t impossible to obtain public information under the Freedom of

llegal to browse a publicly accessible web page without explicit

EFF also submitted additional comments, as a member of the Digital Future 

Coalition. The DFC analysis is available at http://www.dfc.org

* Background

The PTO's theory has been that investment in information and communication

technology such as the Internet will be stimulated by granting more explicit 

copyright protection to online media, including an all-new, sweeping 

those who catalog them.  The Computer and Communications Industry 

Association, which includes AT&T and Sun, begs to differ, saying that the 

The provisions were first proposed in a Commerce Dept. "Green Paper", later 

criticism from virtually all corners (see IPWG papers and critiques, 

the doomed NII Copyright Act of 1996 and related US legislation (see 

At all stages, researchers and public interest organizations have drawn close

attention to the fact that the proposals would directly undermine the 

According to a Dec. 5 USIA report, Lehman is "mildly optimistic" that his 

end-run around Congress will succeed.  The Commissioner's single-minded 

zeal in turning controversial ideas of how copyright should be "reformed" 

for the Information Age into international law may be flagging. Lehman 

admits that the database-related provision have raised "legitimate concerns"

and appears to be taking seriously the research community's complaints 

that it would make their work difficult if not impossible.  However, the 

Administration appears completely blind to fair use concerns in their 

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) considering the 

language of the draft treaties is not readily reachable by citizen advocacy.

However, should WIPO fail to heed the warnings and accept these shoddy

efforts at appeasing the database lobby at the expense of the rest of the 

again.  Please take a few moments to contact your legislators, and urge

them to reject both the WIPO Literary and Artistic Works Treaty and the 

WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Databases, should either

ll-conceived and already-rejected proposals down the throat of the world

s not the way to do it.

More information on the WIPO copyright "reform" is available at 

* EFF Analysis of WIPO Online Intellectual Property Draft Treaties

Mr. Keith M. Kupferschmid

Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks

Box 4, Patent and Trademark Office

Washington, DC  20231

November 22, 1996

Dear Mr. Kupferschmid,

of the Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights 

Questions.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a civil liberties 

organization that works on issues involving personal rights and freedoms in 

current proposals, and we appreciate the opportunity to provide you with our 

views.

There are many problems with the "Sui Generis Protection of Databases"

treaty proposal.  This treaty should be taken off the agenda in Geneva 

until interested parties within the United States have had the opportunity 

to discuss and debate the serious implications of its passage.  There have 

been no public hearings on this proposal.  It is premature to take any

official U.S. stance at this time.

This treaty would completely undermine the 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision

n Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service.  In Feist, the Court

as listing names, addresses, and telephone numbers in alphabetical order, 

are not sufficiently creative to qualify for copyright protection.

The Feist decision was based on the grounds that facts cannot be copyrighted

or otherwise removed from the public domain.  By creating a new property 

Under the treaty, private monopolies for the maintenance of public data will 

be sanctioned, and individuals will have to pay for facts in the public 

This is particularly troubling because in the United States many government

contained within those databases rightfully are part of the public domain; 

there is no other source for this information.  The private vendors who 

Furthermore, under the proposed database treaty, the government will be 

f it uses private contractors, since the contractors will be said to have

the treaty.  The definition of "database" is all-encompassing and will 

nclude many things that are not traditionally considered to be databases,

troubling, in that it takes into account the database maintainer's 

users would be precluded from using any bits of information they receive 

from a database if the database maintainer has charged for that information.

(i.e., any addition of data) will reset the clock for protection purposes.  

This will give database maintainers an infinite copyright in their databases.

The treaty also includes strong civil and criminal penalties for third-party

for any unauthorized actions of their users.  Yet this treaty attempts to 

establish system operator liability under international law.

Finally, as in the proposed "Protection of Literary and Artistic

Works" treaty, the database proposal is accompanied by very strict

circumventing the rights created in the treaty.  This turns current

Supreme Court law (See Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, 

legitimate to make, import and distribute if it has ANY legitimate uses 

-- not if ALL of its uses are legitimate.  Under this novel theory, 

common office supplies like correction fluid and scissors could be 

outlawed because they can be used to eliminate copyright markings on 

because it causes quantifiable or alleged harm to one party.

Furthermore, the "protection-defeating device" restriction obviously 

covers both reverse-engineering tools and encryption technology.  

Reverse engineering is the process of discovering exactly what a 

competitor has built by detailed examination of an end-user product.

Eliminating the legal right to reverse-engineer makes it much easier

to establish monopolies enforced by the state.  This harms society by

expense of the many.  The restriction also makes it illegal to

"crack" or seek to crack encryption systems, an essential part of 

building real security into encryption systems (including copy 

be improved.  It's clear that this part of the law would not stop 

criminals from circumventing technical copy protection systems; the 

much larger crime they are involved in is the theft of the 

ntellectual property itself.  But it would stop professors, students,

and competitors from studying copy protection systems to analyze their 

flaws and propose improvements.  And it would prohibit consumers from 

being able to obtain products which they would use in completely legal 

and legitimate ways; for example, to recover access to their own 

encrypted files.

As with the "Sui Generis Protection of Databases" treaty proposal, EFF has

many concerns about the "Protection of Literary and Artistic Works" treaty 

The way it is currently written, Article 7 would inhibit browsing on the

World Wide Web.  Article 7 requires signatories to treat temporary copies, 

as a piece of information moves through the Internet, as a "reproduction" 

that could violate the exclusive reproduction right.  Temporary 

under this provision.

Article 10 would substantially expand the exposure of online service

the public, which appears to be broader than either the distribution right 

or public performance right now granted by the U.S. Copyright Act.  This 

new right, when combined with Article 7's treatment of RAM copies as

nfringement.

Article 12 would undermine many of the exceptions of the U.S. Copyright Act.

Article 12 would apparently eliminate exceptions that currently permit the 

use of copyrighted works for distance learning and performance of music in 

application of the fair use doctrine with respect to both commercial and 

non-commercial uses. 

Article 13 contains the exact same troubling language as the proposed "Sui

Generis Protection of Databases" treaty (discussed above) that would make 

nvolved in the "Sui Generis Protection of Databases" treaty proposal.

national debate has taken place.  EFF has the same level of

treaty proposal in its current form.

Thank you for consideration of our views on these important issues.  Please

feel free to contact me if I can provide you with any additional information.

Sincerely,

[sig]

Shari Steele, Staff Attorney

Electronic Frontier Foundation		ssteele@eff.org

.O. Box 649 :70

Bryans Road, MD  20616			301/283-5337 (fax)

------------------------------

Subject: NewsNybbles

--------------------

* EFF's "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes" - Spread the Word!

As part of its educational and public awareness mission, EFF has launched 

a sweepstakes based on a series of online civil liberties questions and 

answers. Winners will receive a variety of prizes, including a Gibson 

Eden MusicFest, a 3-day mega-concert EFF helped organize to raise 

awareness of Internet privacy and free speech.

EFF members might not find the challenges very tough, but perhaps you'll 

consider passing around the following contest announcement to your 

favorite online haunts, posting it on your web page, etc.  Please feel 

free to simply create links to the sweepstakes' official web page at 

[Please redistribute widely in appropriate places, but no later than Dec.

               EFF's "KNOW YOUR CYBERRIGHTS SWEEPSTAKES"

autographed by the Cure!

Every day, decisions are being made that will affect your life online.

Since 1990, The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been looking out for you

- and your Constitutional rights.

EFF's "Know Your CyberRights" Sweepstakes is your chance to pick up

multiple choice question in each of the four rounds, entering your e-mail

address and clicking on "Submit answer," you could win the guitar, an EFF

T-shirt signed by The Spin Doctors, one of 10 EFF T-shirts, or one of 50

Blue Ribbon pins!

To participate in EFF's "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes," go to

enter now, know your cyberrights, and play to win!

The "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes" is organized by the Electronic 

Frontier Foundation, and nonprofit public interest organization devoted 

to protecting civil liberites and promoting responsibility in new media,

and Yoyodyne Entertainment, a privacy-conscious and innovative Internet 

company specializing in free online games. 

[end announcement]

             ********************************************

* EFF Hosts anon.penet.fi Defense Fund

As reported in previous issues of EFFector, Johan Helsingius, operator

of the (former) pseudonymous remailer anon.penet.fi will appeal a Finnish 

court ruling that Penet's thousands of users, who depended on the remailer

to protect their privacy, have no expectation of privacy under Finnish law,

n response to Church of Scientology legal actions to gain access to

the real identity of a Penet user accused of copyright infringement.  

Helsingius is also considering legal action against a UK newspaper who 

another "Internet is an evil den of child pornographers" schlock stories.

Helsingius, who has long had a policy against illegal abuse of the 

As the US is the largest aggregate of Net users who may wish to support

Helsingius's appeal of the Finnish court's anti-privacy ruling and 

all privacy advocates and Internet users by implication), EFF will serve

as a clearinghouse for US donations to the Penet Legal Defense Fund.

Donations may be made by sending checks or money orders to:

Electronic Frontier Foundation

attn: Penet Fund

San Francisco CA 94103

Foundation", and clearly marked "Penet Fund" or "Penet Legal Defense Fund"

n the note space at the bottom.  Otherwise they could be mistaken for

WE CANNOT PROCESS DRAFTS MADE OUT TO "PENET FUND". We would have to have 

a business license and a new account in that name.  Please also note that 

and such. Please be generous. Consider it a holiday spirit gift to 

the US-to-Finland exchange and transfer process.

* SPA Drops ISP Lawsuits - Code of Conduct Still Advanced

against internet service providers (ISPs). SPA had intended to hold the 

been advancing an "ISP Code of Conduct" demanding, among other things, 

the appointing of a staff member to monitor and censor not only what all 

of the ISPs customers said and posted online, but also to screen all 

Though SPA had already dropped suit against one service provider, 

Community ConneXion, by mid-Nov., and backpeddaled from one of the other

of free advertising in an SPA press release about settling 

the case, the industry group curiously still proposes it's "Code" 

(renamed "ISP Guidelines for Intellectual Property Protection", 

apparently in the hope to make it sound more attractive. Industry likes 

"guidelines" it can subscribe to but bridles at being force-fed a "code 

of conduct").

The ISP industry just isn't going for this ostensible carrot, and the 

SPA's stick has no sting.  The Association of Online Professionals issued

a warning to Internet access companies to avoid the SPA "Code" like the 

communications) and would greatly increase ISP liability for user actions, 

also criticized SPA's "kill the messenger" legal tactic of suing 

"crimes" as making WWW links to pages that might be infringing or even 

Georgia proposed a counter-policy addressing the SPA document's

complete lack of any requirement that copyright infringement complainants

As of e-press time, SPA has yet to respond to any of the above, though

their dropping of the remaining suits against ISPs is certainly a good sign.

The above documents may all be found at:

------------------------------

Upcoming Events

---------------

This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to

our members.  EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker)

are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date.  Simlarly, government

events (such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission,

or conferences at which government representatives are speaking) are marked

ndicates a non-USA event.  If it's a foreign EFF event with govt. people,

t'll be "*!+" instead of "-".  You get the idea.

The latest version of the full EFF calendar is available from:

ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff

See also our new Now-Up-to-Date HTML calendar at:

----

Dec. 18 - MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - first meeting of the Bay Area Chapter of 

	  the Webmasters' Guild; The Webmasters' Guild is an organization 

	  dedicated to providing industry education and business networking 

	  opportunities for web site professionals.

	  6:30 PM; Netscape Communications, 487 E. Middlefield Rd., 

	  Mountain View, CA; Customer Briefing Center (Mozilla room); 

	  Registration will begin at 6:30 PM with the meeting starting 

	  promptly at 7:00 PM.  

	  URL http://www.webmaster.org

	  R.S.V.P. to the Bay Area Chapter President, Bob Koche, at 

	  bkoche@cruzio.com

----

Jan. 10 - PHILADELPHIA - CALL FOR PAPERS!! - SIGIR '97 seeks original 

	  contributions (i.e. never before published) in the broad field 

	  of information storage and retrieval, covering the handling of 

	  all types of information, people's behavior in information

	  systems, and theories, models and implementations of information 

	  retrieval systems. Subscribe now to SIGIR '97 mailing list by 

	  writing to   Information on 

	  SIGIR '97 will periodically be sent to the mailing list as well as 

	  posted at http://www.acm.org/sigir/conferences/sigir97/index.html

	  The conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in 

	  Philadelphia, PA, USA, July 27 -- July 31, 1997

Jan. 13 + LANCASTER, UK - ECSCW'97, the Fifth European Conference on

          Computer Supported Cooperative Work; deadline for paper

          submissions is January 13, 1997; papers must contain an abstract

          of not more than 100 words and not exceed 16 pages in length; full

          formatting instructions are available from

          http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/papers/

          queries: ecscw97-papers@comp.lancs.ac.uk

          for more information:

          snail mail: ECSCW'97 Conference Office

                      Computing Department

                      Lancaster University

                      Lancaster  LA1 4YR  UK

          URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/

          email: ecscw97@comp.lancs.ac.uk

Jan. 15-

     17 - WASHINGTON, DC - Universal Service '97: Redefining Universal 

	  Telecommunications Service for the Emerging Competitive

	  Environment; for more information contact:

	  tel: +1 800 822 MEET

	       +1 202 842 3022 x317

	  URL: http://brp.com

Jan. 16-

     17 - ARLINGTON, VA - NCSA International Virus Prevention Conference '97;

	  event will investigate "the continuing, worrisome, costly 

	  problem of computer virus attacks, disasters and recovery; 

	  Crystal Gateway Marriott (+1 703 271 5212);

	  more information:

	  tel: +1 717 258 1816

	  email: ivpc97@ncsa.com

Jan. 19-

     21 - PALM SPRINGS, CA - Upside Technology Summit; "Managing Digital 

	  Mania: An Extreme Sport for Technology Executives"; examining 

	  effective business models and strategies in the booming world of 

	  e-commerce; Al Franken has been invited to give a closing speech;

	  La Quinta Resort & Club, Palm Springs, CA; for more info contact:

	  URL: http://www.upside.com

	  tel: +1 888 33 UPSIDE

Jan. 23-

     25 - CAMBRIDGE, MA

	  The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property

	  Harvard University symposium to broaden and deepen understanding 

	  of emerging economic and business models for global publishing 

	  and information access and the attendant transformation of 

	  international information markets, institutions, and businesses.

	  First Announcement and Call for Papers; Prospective authors should 

	  submit short abstracts for review and comment as soon as possible. 

	  Acceptances of abstracts and outlines are conditional pending 

	  receipt of a satisfactory draft by December 15, 1996. Sponsored by

	  Harvard Law School.

	  email: iip@harvard.edu

	  regular mail: Tim Leshan, Information Infrastructure Project, 

		John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 John F. Kennedy St., 

		Cambridge, MA 02138

	  tel: 617-496-1389

	  fax: 617-495-5776

Jan. 28-

     31 - RSA Cryptography Conference - Computerworld called last year's 

	  event the sine qua non event of the crypto community; at various 

	  facilities atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, the luminaries of 

	  cryptography will gather; Right now, preparations for this 

	  conference are underway. There are many exciting ways for 

	  corporations and individuals to participate. Read on for 

	  information about presenting, exhibiting, or just attending

	  http://www.rsa.com/conf97/

Feb. 10-

     11 - Internet Society Symposium on Network and Distributed System 

	  Security; for those interested in the practical aspects of network 

	  and distributed system security, focusing on actual system design 

	  and implementation, rather than theory. Dates, final call for

          papers, advance program, and registration information will be

	  available at the URL: http://www.isoc.org/conferences/ndss97

Feb. 18-

     20 - SAN JOSE, CA - DCI Internet Expo; the world's largest Internet, 

	  Web and email conference and exposition; comprehensive program 

	  will cover Web-enabled marketing, best practices for e-commerce 

	  and application development; San Jose Convention Center; also

	  will be held April 22-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL;

	  email: ExpoReg@dciexpo.com

	  URL: http://www.dciexpo.com

Feb. 24-

     28 + ANGUILLA, BRITISH WEST INDIES

	  Financial Cryptography '97 - CALL FOR PAPERS; this is a new 

	  conference on the security of digital financial transactions.

	  FC97 aims to bring together persons involved in both the

	  financial and data security fields to foster cooperation and 

	  exchange of ideas. Send a cover letter and 9 copies of an extended 

	  abstract to be received by November 29, 1996 to the Program Chair 

	  at the address given below:

	  Rafael Hirschfeld

	  FC97 Program Chair

	  CWI

	  Kruislaan 413

	  1098 SJ Amsterdam

	  The Netherlands

	  email: ray@cwi.nl

	  phone: +31 20 592 4169

	  fax: +31 20 592 4199

	  URL: http://www.cwi.nl/conferences/FC97

Mar. 1-

     5 -  ACM97: The Next 50 Years of Computing; San Jose Convention 

	  Center, March 1-5, 1997; Registration information: 

	  URL: http://www.acm.org/acm97

	  tel: +1 800 342 6626		

Mar. 3-

     5 -  NEW YORK CITY - Consumer Online Services TV; Jupiter 

	  Communications conference featuring Steve Case of AOL and 

	  Steve Perlman of WebTV; for more information contact:

	  tel: +1 800 488 4345

	  URL: http://www.jup.com

Apr. 8-

     11 - FRACTAL 97: Fractals in the Natural & Applied Sciences 4th 

          International Working Conference; Denver Colorado.  Sponsored by

          IFIP; paper submissions due by Aug. 5, 1996.

          Contact: Miroslav Novak, +44 181 547 2000 (voice), 

                   +44 181 547 7562 or 7419 (fax)

          Email: novak@kingston.ac.uk   

Apr. 22-

     24 - CHICAGO, IL - DCI Internet Expo; the world's largest Internet,

          Web and email conference and exposition; comprehensive program

          will cover Web-enabled marketing, best practices for e-commerce

          and application development; San Jose Convention Center; also

          will be held February 18-20 at the San Jose Convention Center;

          email: ExpoReg@dciexpo.com

          URL: http://www.dciexpo.com

June 2-

     4  - American Society for Information Science 1997 Mid-Year Conference;  

          gathering will focus on privacy and security issues online; 

          Scottsdale Arizona; paper submissions due Nov. 1, 1996.

	  Contacts:

		Gregory B. Newby, Co-Chair GSLIS/UIUC

	  	 Tel: (217) 244-7365; Email: gbnewby@uiuc.edu

		Mark H. Needleman, Co chair UCOP

		 Tel: (510) 987-0530; Email: mhn@stubbs.ucop.edu

		Karla Petersen, Panel  Sessions

		 Tel: (312) 508-2657; Email: kpeter1@luc.edu

		Richard Hill, Executive Director, ASIS

		 Tel: (301) 495-0900; Email: rhill@cni.org

	  URL: http://www.asis.org

June 14-

     19 + CALGARY, CANADA

	  ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97--World Conference on Educational 

	  Multimedia and Hypermedia and World Conference on Educational 

	  Telecommunications are jointly held international conferences, 

	  organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing 

	  in Education (AACE). These annual conferences serve as multi-

	  disciplinary forums for the discussion and dissemination of 

	  information on the research, development, and applications on all 

	  topics related to multimedia/hypermedia and distance education.  

	  We invite you to attend ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97 and submit proposals 

	  for papers, panels, roundtables, tutorials, workshops, 

	  demonstrations/posters, and SIG discussions. Proposals may be 

	  submitted in either hard copy (send 5 copies or fax 1 copy) 

	  or in electronic form.  Electronic proposals in the form of 

	  URL addresses or ASCII files (uncoded) are preferred.

	  Submission Deadline: Oct. 25, 1996; Send to:

	  Program Chairs

	  ED-MEDIA 97/AACE

	  P.O. Box 2966

	  Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA

	  E-mail: AACE@virginia.edu; Phone: 804-973-3987; Fax: 804-978-7449

	  URL: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia

June 19-

     20 - WASHINGTON, DC - CyberPayments '97

	  Conference will investigate issues of online commerce including

	  electronic cash and checks, credit cards, encryption systems 

	  and security products; Sheraton Washington Hotel, Washington, DC

	  For more information contact:

	  email: vinceiaboni@msn.com

	  tel: +1 216 464 2618 x228

	       +1 800 529 7375

July 13-

     17 - ACUTA 26th Annual Conference; Atlanta, Georgia.

          Contact: +1 606 278 3338 (voice)

Sep. 7 -

     11 + LANCASTER, UK - ECSCW'97, the Fifth European Conference on 

	  Computer Supported Cooperative Work; deadline for paper 

	  submissions is January 13, 1997; papers must contain an abstract 

	  of not more than 100 words and not exceed 16 pages in length; full 

	  formatting instructions are available from

	  http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/papers/

	  queries: ecscw97-papers@comp.lancs.ac.uk

	  for more information:

	  snail mail: ECSCW'97 Conference Office

		      Computing Department

		      Lancaster University

		      Lancaster  LA1 4YR  UK

	  URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/

	  email: ecscw97@comp.lancs.ac.uk

Sep. 12-

     14   SAN DIEGO - Association of Online Professionals Annual 

	  Conference; sysop trade association's yearly gathering to 

	  discuss issues of relevance to the industry

	  URL: http://www.aop.org/confrnc.html

Oct. 28-

     31 - EDUCOM '97; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

          Contact: +1 202 872 4200 (voice)

          Email: conf@educom.edu

Dec. 1  - Computer Security Day (started by Washington DC chapter of the

          Assoc. for Computing Machinery, to "draw attention to computer

          security during the holdiay season when it might otherwise become

          lax."   

------------------------------

Subject: Quote of the Day

-------------------------

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but, unlike charity, it 

  - Clare Boothe Luce

Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe 

the rush to make us secure from ourselves that our government 

Concerned that legislative efforts nominally to "protect children" will 

actually censor all communications down to only content suitable for 

the playground?  Alarmed by commercial and religious organizations abusing

the judicial and legislative processes to stifle satire, dissent and 

criticism?

Join EFF!   

Even if you don't live in the U.S., the anti-Internet hysteria will soon 

be visiting a legislative body near you.  If it hasn't already.

------------------------------

Subject: What YOU Can Do

------------------------

* The Communications Decency Act & Other Censorship Legislation

The Communications Decency Act and similar legislation pose serious 

threats to freedom of expression online, and to the livelihoods of system 

operators.  The legislation also undermines several crucial privacy 

Supreme Court. But, bowing to pressure from theocratic organization,

Congress is likely to introduce and attempt to pass a slightly modified 

version.  Let your legislators know you will not stand for censorship,

nor for the wasting of millions of tax dollars on years of Supreme Court 

litigation over laws that should never have even been proposed much less 

Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.

affairs office and/or legal counsel about such censorship measures, 

TODAY, while there is still time to plan.

Join in the Blue Ribbon Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html

Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund:

for information to ask@eff.org.

censorious legislation is turning up at the US state and non-US 

national levels.  Don't let it sneak by you - or by the online activism 

community. Without locals on the look out, it's very difficult for the 

Net civil liberties community to keep track of what's happening locally 

as well as globally.

* Find Out Who Your Congresspersons Are

Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress

s one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of

making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues.

try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great 

that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85%

accuracy at:

Computer Currents Interactive has provided Congress contact info, sorted 

by who voted for and against the Communications Decency Act:

fortunately, been voted out of office.)

* Join EFF!

You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard

n government are important. You have probably participated in our online

campaigns and forums.  Have you become a member of EFF yet?  The best way to

opinions heard.  EFF members are informed and are making a difference.  Join

EFF today!

For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any

message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.

------------------------------

Administrivia

=============

EFFector Online is published by:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

San Francisco CA 94103 USA

+1 415 436 9333 (voice)

+1 415 436 9993 (fax)

Membership & donations: membership@eff.org

Legal services: ssteele@eff.org

General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org

Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, Webmaster (mech@eff.org)

This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons.

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged.  Signed

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ually at will.

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Back issues are available at:

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To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or

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the file "current" from the EFFector directory at the above sites at any 

time for a copy of the current issue.  HTML editions available at:

at EFFweb.  HTML editions of the current issue sometimes take a day or 

longer to prepare after issue of the ASCII text version.

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End of EFFector Online v09 #14 Digest

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$$