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New Censorship Legislation in the US (fwd)
- To: debate@fitug.de
- Subject: New Censorship Legislation in the US (fwd)
- From: Rigobert Wenning <wenning2@rz.uni-sb.de>
- Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 18:45:32 +0200 (CST)
- Comment: This message comes from the debate mailing list.
- Sender: owner-debate@fitug.de
Hallo Leute,
ich habe das heute erst gesehen.
Einfach FYI
Gruss
Rigo
Forwarded message:
> From gilc-plan@gilc.org Wed Jul 22 03:48:58 1998
> Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:45:23 -0400
> Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19980721214523.00919e20@208.151.193.2>
> From: Barry Steinhardt <Barrys@eff.org>
> Subject: New Censorship Legislation in the US
> To: gilc-plan@gilc.org
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
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> Reply-To: gilc-plan@gilc.org
> Errors-To: list-admin@gilc.org
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> July 21, 1998
>
> CONTACTS:
> Barry Steinhardt, EFF President, 212 549 2508, E-mail barrys@eff.org
> Alexander Fowler, EFF Director of Public Affairs, 202 462 5826,
> E-mail afowler@eff.org
>
> ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION REACTS TO SENATE PASSAGE OF TWO INTERNET
> FILTERING BILLS
>
>
> Statement of Barry Steinhardt
> President of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
>
> This afternoon the Senate passed two draconian bills that would ultimately
> prevent access to a wide array of content on the Internet. The two bills
> were passed as an amendment to an appropriations bill for the Commerce,
> Justice and State Department. They were brought up without any notice to
> those members of the Senate who opposed them and without any opportunity for
> meaningful debate. In effect, free speech on the Internet was the victim of
> an ambush.
>
> The first amendment offered by Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Patty
> Murray (D-Washington) would require schools and libraries that receive
> federal funds for Internet connections to install filtering software to
> block inappropriate material. The second, "the CDA II" bill sponsored by
> Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) would enact a wide ranging ban on Web posting of
> material deemed "harmful to minors."
>
> The two bills represent a real and present danger to free speech on the
> Internet. The McCain/Murray amendment will force libraries and schools to
> use all too frequently crude and overbroad filters that block out a wide
> array of non-"indecent" speech -- everything from the Quaker home page to
> the American Association of University Women has been blocked by these
> programs.
>
> Indeed, you can no more create a computer program to block out one community's
> view of "indecency" or "obscenity" than you can devise a filtering program
> to block out misguided proposals by members of Congress. Both may be
> desirable, but neither are possible.
>
> At first glance, the Coats' CDA II bill appears to be a relatively benign
> provision that purportedly applies only to commercial pornographers who
> market to minors. But it is a Trojan horse. Beneath the veneer, it covers
> any Web site that has a commercial component and which has material that
> some community will consider "harmful to minors." This ranges from the
> electronic bookseller Amazon.com to the EFF's site, which sells books and
> T-Shirts.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
> Barry Steinhardt East Coast Phone 212 549 2508
> President East Coast Fax 212 549 2656
> Electronic Frontier Foundation West Coast Phone 415 436 9333 ext 102
> 1550 Bryant St. Suite 725 West Coast Fax 415 436 9993
> San Francisco, CA 94103 <http://www.eff.org>
> Barrys@eff.org
>
>