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EFFector Online Volume 08 No. 06       May 22, 1995       editors@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation        ISSN 1062-9424

Campaign & New Petition to Stop the Communication Decency Act!

Calendar of Events

Quote of the Week

What YOU Can Do

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

nformation on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *

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

Subject: Campaign & New Petition to Stop the Communication Decency Act!

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

EFF, VTW, CDT and other organizations in the Stop314 Coalition have issued

a new immediate action alert.  Please read this alert and act quickly!

                                 ********

          CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE EXON/GORTON COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT

	Update: -Bill is on the Senate floor

		-Please act to help Leahy stop the Exon censorship bill

            PETITION TO HELP SENATOR LEAHY STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL 

                         COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT

		      	        May 19, 1995

        PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT

  	             REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL June 9, 1995

                 REPRODUCE THIS ALERT ONLY IN RELEVANT FORUMS

        Distributed by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org)

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

CONTENTS

	The Time Is Now

        Another Petition?

        What Is Sen. Leahy Proposing?

        How To Sign The Petition

        The Petition Statement

	Signing the petition from Fidonet or FTN systems

        For More Information

        List Of Participating Organizations

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

THE TIME IS NOW

      HELP SENATOR LEAHY STOP THE EXON COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT

The Senate is expected to on vote the Communications Decency Act (CDA,

a.k.a. the Exon Bill) within the next three weeks.

The Communications Decency Act, in its current form, would severely

online, and represents a grave threat to the very nature and existence

of the Internet as we know it today. Without your help now, the

Communications Decency Act will likely pass and the net may never be

the same again.

Although the CDA has been revised to limit the liability of online

content deemed "obscene, lewd, lacivious, filthy, or indecent,"

ncluding the private communications between consenting adults. Even

CDA to make it even more restrictive.

Currently, Senator Exon is negotiating with pro-censorship groups and

commercial entities that would be affected by the CDA. The voices of

Leahy (D-VT) has introduced the only legislative alternative to the

Communications Decency Act.  Senator Leahy is willing to offer his bill

as a substitute for the CDA, but needs your support behind his

efforts.

Senator Leahy's legislation would commission a study to examine the

complex issues involved in protecting children from controversial

content while preserving the First Amendment, the privacy rights of

users, and the free flow of information in cyberspace.

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

ANOTHER PETITION?

Yes.  With a strong showing of support from the net.community, Senator

Leahy can offer his bill as a substitute for the Communications Decency

Act when the Senate votes on the issue later this month.  Senator Leahy

needs and wants to demonstrate to his colleagues in the Senate that the

net.community is behind him in his efforts. We must rise to the task

and demonstrate that we will not sit idly by as our rights are

threatened.

Senator Leahy, a strong civil liberties advocate, has been the Senate's

most vocal critic of the Exon/Gorton Communications Decency Act, and

efforts.

The previous petition against the Communications Decency Act generated

over 108,000 signatures, and was instrumental in Senator Leahy's

CDA, we must act quickly to ensure that our collective voice continues

to be heard.

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

WHAT IS LEAHY PROPOSING?

Senator Leahy's bill, S. 714, would direct the Department of Justice

and the Department of Commerce to commence a 5 month study to examine:

* Current law enforcement authority to prosecute the distribution of

  pornography over computer networks;

* Whether any additional law or law enforcement resources are necessary;

* The availability of technological capabilities, consistent with the 

  First Amendment and the free flow of information in Cyberspace, to 

  protect children from accessing controversial commercial and non-

  commercial content;

* Ways to promote the development and deployment of such technologies.

After conducting the study, the Justice Department must report to Congress

on its findings, and, if necessary, recommend changes in current law.

Leahy's bill represents the only substantive legislative alternative to the

Communications Decency Act, and will buy important time to have a detailed

and rational discussion about the issues involved in protecting children

from controversial content, and avoid the rush to censorship which is

occurring now on the Senate Floor.  

Without a strong show of support for Leahy's bill, the Communications

Decency Act is very likely to pass.

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

WHAT CAN I DO?

There are two ways to sign:

        URL:http://www.cdt.org/petition.html

      Please follow all instructions carefully.  Please also put a link 

      to this page on your homepage.

        send email to petition@cdt.org. 

      Please provide the following information EXACTLY AS SHOWN.  

      INCORRECT SUBMISSIONS CANNOT NOT BE COUNTED!

        Be sure that you make a carriage return at the end of each line

        Your Name

        Your email address

        Are you a US Citizen (yes or no) (** IF NO, skip to last line)     

        Your Street Address (** USE ONLY ONE LINE)

        Your City

        Your State

        Your Zip Code (**VERY IMPORTANT)

        Country

used for any purpose other than delivering a list of signers to

Congress and compiling counts of signers from particular states and

Congressional districts.  It will not be reused, sold, rented, loaned,

or available for use for any other purpose.  All records will be

        --- sample email submission ---

        To: petition@cdt.org

        From: everybody@ubiquitous.net

        Subject: signed

        Every Body

        everybody@ubiqutious.net

        YES

        1111 State Street, Apt. 31 B

        Any Town

        CA

        94320

        USA

      --- sample email submission ---

Multiple signatures will not be counted, so please only sign once.

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

THE PETITION STATEMENT

We the undersigned users of the Internet are strongly opposed to the

"Communications Decency Act" (Title IV of S. 652), which is currently

constitution.

Based on our Nation's longstanding history of protecting freedom of

We urge the Senate to halt consideration of the Communications Decency

Act and consider in its place S. 714, the "Child Protection, User

Empowerment, and Free Expression In Interactive Media Study Bill", an

alternative approach offered by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Signed:

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

SIGNING THE PETITION FROM FIDONET OR FTN SYSTEMS

To sign the petition from FidoNet or other FTN systems, create a

netmail message to your local UUCP host.  Search the nodelist for the

GUUCP flag, and use the address of that system:

To: UUCP, [GUUCP system's address here.  "To:" name MUST be set to UUCP]

From: [you]

Subject: signed

_________________________________________________________________________

To: petition@cdt.org

        Every Body

        everybody@ubiqutious.net

        YES

        1111 State Street, Apt. 31 B

        Any Town

        CA

        94320

        USA

[Message starts on 3rd line.  The second "To:" line with the internet

email address MUST be the first line of the message body, and the blank

line following that is REQUIRED.  Mail will not be delivered by the gateways

may use something other than a GUUCP nodelist flag, ask your network

coordinators.

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

We oppose the "Communications Decency Act", sponsored by Senators James

Exon (D-NE) and Slade Gorton (R-WA), for the following reasons:

* It criminalizes the transmission of constitutionally protected speech,

  including the private communications between consenting individuals;

* It would violate privacy rights by protecting system administrators

  who take steps to ensure that their networks are not being used to 

  transmit prohibited content, even if those steps include reading all 

  messages, in violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 

  (ECPA).

* It fails to account for the unique characteristics of interactive 

  media, including the tremendous control users have over the content 

  they or their children receive.

* It would give the Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction over  

  online speech by giving the FCC authority to establish rules 

  governing the distribution of content online;

The Internet and other interactive communications technologies offer a

unique opportunity for the free exchange of information and ideas, and

embody the very essence of our nation's democratic traditions of

openness, diversity and freedom of speech.

As users of these technologies, we know perhaps better than anyone that

there are other, less restrictive ways to protect children from

controversial materials while preserving the First Amendment and the

free flow of information.

Senator Leahy's bill provides an opportunity to address the issues

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

FOR MORE INFORMATION

forums on a regular basis.

To have the latest status report sent to you automatically, send email

to:  p-update@cdt.org

the petition page, contact Jonah Seiger 

Other petition related information can be found on the CDT petition

  URL:http://www.cdt.org/petition.html

For More information on the Communications Decency Act issue:

Web Sites

	URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html

	URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/

	URL:http://www.panix.com/vtw/exon/

FTP Archives 

	URL:ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/policy/freespeech/00-INDEX.FREESPEECH

	URL:ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/Alerts/

Gopher Archives:

	URL:gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Alerts

	URL:gopher://gopher.panix.com/11/vtw/exon

nformation from the following autobots:

General information on the CDA issue            cda-info@cdt.org

Current status of the CDA issue                 cda-stat@cdt.org

Chronology of events of the CDA issue		vtw@vtw.org with the

						subject "send events"

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

LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS

Communications Decency Act.

Californians Against Censorship Together         BobbyLilly@aol.com

Center For Democracy And Technology (CDT)              info@cdt.org

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)                   info@eff.org

Feminists For Free Expression (FFE)                     FFE@aol.com

Florida Coalition Against Censorship          pipking@mail.firn.edu

Hands Off! The Net                               baby-x@phanton.com

League for Programming Freedom			   lpf@uunet.uu.net

National Libertarian Party                73163.3063@compuserve.com           

Marijuana Policy Project			  MPProject@AOL.com

MindVox						 system@phantom.com

National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN)          info@nptn.org

National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981 AFL-CIO)   kip@world.std.com

Society for Electronic Access				sea@sea.org

The WELL                                              info@well.com

Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW)                   vtw@vtw.org

Safdar at VTW  

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

Subject: Calendar of 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, are

marked with "!" in place of the "-" after the date.

The latest full version of this calendar, which includes material for

later in the year as well as the next couple of months, is available from:

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

Updated: May 15, 1995

----

May  22-

     24 - ErgoCon '95 - Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference & Exposition;

          San Jose, Calif.

          Contact: Abbas Moallem, +1 408 9244132 (voice), +1 408 924 4153 (fax)

May  26-

     28 - Virtual Futures 1995; U. of Warwick, Coventry, UK.  VF'95 "is an 

          interdisciplinary event that examines the role of cybernetic 

          and specifically dissipative or non-linear models in the arts,  

          sciences, and philosophy. The conference explores the relationship

          between postmodern philosophy and chaos theory, with topics 

          ranging from: information  technology, hypertext and

          multimedia applications...[to] neural nets, and nanotechnology."

          Speakers include: Kathy Acker, Hakim Bey, Richard Kadrey, Manuel

          DeLanda, Alan Sondheim and many more.  Deadline for proposals:

          Mar. 1 '95.

          Contact: +44 0203 523523 x2582 (voice), +44 0203 523019 (fax)

          Email: virtual-futures@warwick.ac.uk

May  31 - Deadline for paper submissions, 11th Ann. Computer Security 

          Applications Conference (see Dec. 11, below).

June 4-

     6  - Cyber.Xpo.95; Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada; sponsored by 

          _Sysop_News_. Seminar sessions & tradeshow.

          Contact: +1 614 452 4541 (voice)

June 5-

     6  ! 5th Annual "U.S. Copyright Office Speaks" Seminar (West Coast);

          the Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles, Calif.  Topics include: inside 

          look at New Register's agenda, analysis of NII legislation, 

          ACCORD update, & international developments. (See May 1-2 for 

          East Coast event.)

          Contact: +1 201 894 8260 (voice)

June 7-

     9  - Third International Conference on Artificial Intelligence

          Applications on Wall Street; Pace University, New York City, NY.

          Contact: +1 914 763 8820 (voice), +1 914 763 9324 (fax)

          Email: satwell@mcimail.com

June 8-

     10  - Exploring the VideoClass Alternative; Raleigh, N. Carolina.

          Email: tom_russell@nsu.edu

June 11-

     14 - Society & the Future of Computing (SFC'95); Tamarron Lodge, 

          Durango, Colorado.  Sponsored by the Assoc. for Computing 

          Machinery, LANL, U. of Md., IEEE. Speakers will include Phil Agre 

          (UCSD), Leslie Sandberg (Institute for Telemedicine), Wm. 

          Halverson (PacBell), Don Norman (Apple), Linda Garcia 

          (Congressional Office of Technology Assessment), John 

          Cherniavsky (Natl. Science Found.) and several others.

          Email: sfc95@lanl.gov

          WWW: http://www.lanl.gov/LANLNews/Conferences/.sfc95/sfcHome.html/

June 13-

     15 - IDT 95 - 12th Congress on Information Markets and Industries;

          Paris, France.  Organized by ADBS (a society of information

          professionals), ANRT (National Association of Technological

          Research), and GFII (French association of information industries).

          Contact: +33 1 43 72 25 25 (voice), +33 1 43 72 30 41 (fax)

June 17-

     19 - NECC'95: Emerging Technologies and Lifelong Learning: 16th Annual

          National Educational Computing Conf., sponsored by International

          Society for Technology in Education; Baltimore, Maryland.

          VP Gore and Sec'y. of Labor Robert Reich invited as keynote

          speakers. Other speakers include: John Phillipo (CELT), Frank

          Knott (MGITB)

          Contact: +1 503 346 2834 (voice), +1 503 346 5890 (fax)

          Email: necc95@ccmail.uoregon.edu

June 18-

     21 -  ED-MEDIA'95; Graz, Austria. A world conference on educational

           multimedia and hypermedia. Sponsor: The Association for the

           Advancement of Computing. 

           Contact: +1 804 973 3987 (voice)

           Email: aace@virginia.edu.

June 24-

     28 - Workshop on Ethical & Professional Issues in Computing; 

          Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY. Deadline for submissions:

          Apr. 15.

          Contact: +1 518 276 8503 (voice), +1 518 276 2659 (fax)

          Email: cherkt@rpi.edu

June 27-

     29 - Women in Technology Conference: Channels for Change; Santa Clara 

          Conv. Ctr., Santa Clara, Calif.  Speakers include: Gloria Steinem.

          Sponsored by Int'l. Network of Women in Technology (WITI).

          Contact: +1 818 990 1987 (voice), +1 818 906 3299 (fax)

          Email: witi@crl.com

June 28-

     30 - INET '95 Internet Society 5th Ann. International Networking

          Conf.; Honolulu, Hawaii.  Sponsored by Internet Society (ISoc).

          See Jan. 13 for proposal deadline

          Contact: +1 703 648 9888 (voice)

          FTP: ftp.isoc.org, /isoc/inet95/

          Gopher: gopher.isoc.org, 1/isoc/inet95 

          WWW: http://www.isoc.org/inet95.html

          Email: inet95@isoc.org 

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

Subject: Quote of the Week

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

"It is no solution to define words as violence or prejudice as

oppression, and then by cracking down on words or thoughts pretend that

easier to pass a speech code or hate-crimes law and proclaim the streets

confused with the other...Indeed, equating "verbal violence" with

  - Jonathon Rauch, in an essay in _Harper's_Magazine_, May 1995

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

the rush to protect us from ourselves that our government representatives 

may deprive us of our essential civil liberties? 

Join EFF!

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

Subject: What YOU Can Do

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

* The Exon Bill (Communications Decency Act)

The Communications Decency Act poses serious threats to freedom of

expression online, and to the livelihoods of system operators.  The

legislation also undermines several crucial privacy protections.

Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.

affairs office and/or legal counsel.  Everyone should write to their own

Senators and ask them to support Sen. Leahy's replacement bill.  Explain, 

quickly and clearly, why Exon language is dangerous, and urge efforts to 

S.652, the Senate telecom deregulation bill, now contains Sen. Exon's

"Communications Decency Act" (formerly S.314.)  The House version, even

more dangerous to system operators (though far less imminent), is H.R.1004.

Senator Leahy's replacement bill for the S.314 language in S.652 is the 

new bill S.714.

For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other 

ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/

for information to ask@eff.org.

* ITAR Export Restrictions on Encryption

The U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations classify encryption

algorithms and products as "munitions" (weapons of war), and the State 

Department and NSA thereby restrict distribution of encryption technology -

technology vital to the networking security and your personal privacy.

Companies making encryption products are forced to produce good versions 

for domestic use and crippled versions for export.  Or, more likely, to 

often prohibitively expensive.  The ITAR export controls are the primary 

ace in the hole the Administration is using to push key "escrow" schemes 

fund fuelling the Bernstein v. Dept. of State case.

For more information, see:

ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce

* 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.

EFF has lists of the Senate and House with contact information, as well

as lists of Congressional committees. These lists are available at:

ftp.eff.org, /pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/

The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively.

Those not in the U.S. should seek out similar information about their

own legislative bodies.  EFF will be happy to archive any such

nformation provided.

* 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:

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Washington DC 20006-1605 USA

+1 202 861 7700 (voice)

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Legal services: ssteele@eff.org

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Editor: 

Stanton McCandlish, Online Services Mgr./Activist/Archivist (mech@eff.org)

This newsletter printed on 100% recycled electrons.

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged.  Signed

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End of EFFector Online v08 #06 Digest

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