roundtable: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill!

roundtable: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill!

ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill!

BEESONA@HRW.ORG
Thu, 23 Feb 95 15:55:52 EST 

From: BEESONA@HRW.ORG
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 15:55:52 EST
Message-Id: <9501237935.AA793583752@email.hrw.org>
To: cpsr-global@cpsr.org, gii-doc@cpsr.org, roundtable@cni.org
Subject: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill!


**ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES ALERT** 
     
FIGHT ONLINE CENSORSHIP! 
     
AXE THE EXON BILL! 
     
The American Civil Liberties Union urges you to contact the members of 
the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and your own Senators to ask them to 
oppose the efforts to turn online communications into the most heavily 
censored form of American media. 
     
In a clumsy effort to purge sexual expression from the Internet and other 
online networks, the self-described "Communications Decency Act of 1995" 
(S.314, introduced by Senator Exon on 2/2/95) would make ALL 
telecommunications service providers liable for every message, file, or 
other content carried on their networks.  Senator Exon is planning to 
attach the bill to Senator Pressler's new telecommunications legislation, 
which is targeted for action in early March. 
     
The Exon proposal would severely restrict the flow of online information 
by requiring service providers to act as private censors of e-mail 
messages, public forums, mailing lists, and archives to avoid criminal 
liability.  The ACLU believes that online users should be the only censors 
of the content of the information they receive. 
     
**The Exon proposal broadens existing law by subjecting service providers, 
as well as the individuals who actually send messages, to criminal 
liability for any "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent" message 
transmitted over their networks.** 
     
If enacted into law, this vague and overly broad legislation could have 
the following draconian effects: 
     
 * The Exon proposal would prohibit communications with sexual content
through private e-mail between consenting adults, and would inhibit 
people from making comments that might or might not be prohibited. 
     
 * Under the Exon proposal, service providers would pay up to $100,000 
or spend up to 2 years in jail for prohibited content produced by 
subscribers on other networks, over which they had no control. 
     
 * The Exon proposal would expand current restrictions on telephone 
access by minors to dial-a-porn services to include online access to 
indecent material, requiring service providers to purge "indecent" 
material from public bulletin boards and discussion groups to avoid 
accidental viewing by a minor. 
     
In effect, online providers would be forced to offer to adults only that 
content that is "suitable for minors." 
     
     
S. 314 is nearly identical to an amendment Senator Exon successfully 
attached to last year's Senate version of the telecommunications law 
overhaul.  Last year's bill died for unrelated reasons, but the Senate 
Commerce Committee is determined to pass new telecommunications 
legislation this year that could easily include the Exon proposal. 
     
The ACLU opposes the restrictions on speech imposed by this legislation 
because they violate the First Amendment's guarantee of free expression. 
Forcing carriers to pre-screen content violates the Constitution and 
threatens the free and robust expression that is the promise of the Net. 
The Constitution requires that any abridgement of speech use the least 
restrictive means available -- the language of the Exon proposal is 
clearly the most restrictive because it sweeps broadly against a wide 
array of protected material involving sexual expression. 
     
Stop the information superhighway from becoming the most censored segment 
of communications media! 
     
ACT NOW: 
     
Urge members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation: 
     
 *To oppose the Exon proposal, or any Senate or House variation. 
     
 *To drop the Exon proposal BEFORE it goes to the Senate floor.  
     
 *To hold full hearings on the Exon proposal and to review it thoroughly
before it goes to the Senate floor. 
     
 *To reject any effort to attach the Exon proposal to the Senate
telecommunications legislation. 
     
THE EXON PROPOSAL COULD BE LAW WITHIN WEEKS IF WE DON'T ACT TODAY. 
     
Send your letter by e-mail, fax, or snail mail to: 
     
Senator Larry Pressler, S.D. 
Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
SR-254 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-6125 
(202) 224-5842 (phone) 
(202) 224-1630 (fax) 
e-mail: larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov 
     
To maximize the impact of your letter, you should also write to the members 
of the Senate Commerce Committee and to your own Senators. 
     
A sample letter is attached. 
     
Majority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee 
     
Senator Bob Packwood, Ore. 
SR-259 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-3702 
(202) 224-5244 (phone) 
(202) 228-3576 (fax) 
     
Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska 
SH-522 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-0201 
(202) 224-3004 (phone) 
(202) 224-1044 (fax) 
     
Senator John McCain, Ariz. 
SR-111 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-0303 
(202) 224-2235 (phone) 
(202) 228-2862 (fax) 
     
Senator Conrad Burns, Mont. 
SD-183 Dirksen Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-2603 
(202) 224-2644 (phone) 
(202) 224-8594 (fax) 
     
Senator Slade Gorton, Wash. 
SH-730 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-4701 
(202) 224-3441 (phone) 
(202) 224-9393 (fax) 
e-mail:  senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov 
     
Senator Trent Lott, Miss. 
SR-487 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-2403 
(202) 224-6253 (phone) 
(202) 224-2262 (fax) 
     
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Tex. 
SH-703 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-4303 
(202) 224-5922 (phone) 
(202) 224-0776 (fax) 
e-mail:  senator@hutchison.senate.gov 
     
Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Maine 
SR-174 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-1903 
(202) 224-5344 (phone) 
(202) 224-6853 (fax) 
     
Senator John Ashcroft, Mo. 
SH-705 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-2504 
(202) 224-6154 (phone) 
(202) 224-7615 (fax) 
     
Minority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee 
     
Senator Ernest F. Hollings, S.C. 
SR-125 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-4002 
(202) 224-6121 (phone) 
(202) 224-4293 (fax) 
     
Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii 
SH-772 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-1102 
(202) 224-3934 (phone) 
(202) 224-6747 (fax) 
     
Senator Wendell H. Ford, Ky. 
SR-173A Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-1701 
(202) 224-4343 (phone) 
(202) 224-0046 (fax) 
e-mail:  wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov 
     
Senator J. James Exon, Neb. 
SH-528 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-2702 
(202) 224-4224 (phone) 
(202) 224-5213 (fax) 
     
Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, W. Va. 
SH-109 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-4802 
(202) 224-6472 (phone) 
(202) 224-1689 (fax) 
     
Senator John F. Kerry, Mass. 
SR-421 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-2102 
(202) 224-2742 (phone) 
(202) 224-8525 (fax) 
     
Senator John B. Breaux, La 
SH-516 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-1803 
(202) 224-4623 (phone) 
(202) 224-2435 (fax) 
     
Senator Richard H. Bryan, Nev. 
SR-364 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-2804 
(202) 224-6244 (phone) 
(202) 224-1867 (fax) 
     
Senator Byron L. Dorgan, N.D. 
SH-713 Hart Senate Office Building 
Washington, DC  20510-3405 
(202) 224-2551 (phone) 
(202) 224-1193 (fax) 
     
You can also write or fax your own Senator at: 
     
The Honorable ______________________ 
U.S. Senate 
Washington, D.C. 20510 
     
Senate directories including fax numbers may be found at: 
     
gopher://ftp.senate.gov:70 
gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/0/socsci/polscilaw/uslegi 
     
     
Additional information about the ACLU's position on this issue and others 
affecting civil liberties online and elsewhere may be found at: 
     
gopher:\\aclu.org:6601 
OR request our FAQ at infoaclu@aclu.org 
     
-----------------------------------------------cut 
here---------------------------------------------------------- 
     
SAMPLE LETTER 
     
Dear Senator _______: 
     
I am writing to urge you to oppose the restrictions on speech that would 
be imposed by the legislation introduced by Senator Exon, known as the 
Communications Decency Act of 1995,  S.314, introduced on 2/2/95.  The 
Exon proposal would severely restrict the flow of online information by 
requiring service providers to act as private censors of e-mail messages, 
public forums, mailing lists, and archives to avoid criminal liability. 
I believe that online users should be the only censors of the content of 
the messages they receive. 
     
I urge you to: 
     
 *Oppose the Exon proposal, or any Senate or House variation. 
     
 *Drop the Exon proposal BEFORE it goes to the Senate floor.  
     
 *Hold full hearings on the Exon proposal and review it thoroughly before
it goes to the Senate floor. 
     
 *Reject any effort to attach the Exon proposal to the Senate
telecommunications legislation. 
     
Sincerely, 
     
[name] 
-- 
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