roundtable: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update 11-22

roundtable: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update 11/22

ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update 11/22

Ann Beeson (beeson@aclu.org)
Mon, 27 Nov 1995 09:07:48 -0500 

Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 09:07:48 -0500
Message-Id: <199511271407.JAA00784@pipe1.nyc.pipeline.com>
To: stop314@panix.com, roundtable@cni.org, cyber-rights@cpsr.org
Subject: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update 11/22
From: beeson@aclu.org (Ann Beeson)


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November 22, 1995 
ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES UPDATE 
A bi-weekly e-zine on cyber-liberties cases and controversies 
at the state and federal level. 
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IN THIS ISSUE: 
 
*     New York Civil Liberties Union Opposes Discipline of Cornell Students
for Offensive Online Speech 
 
*     Seattle Negotiates New Franchise Agreement with Cable Network to
Offer Internet Access; ACLU of Washington Gives Testimony on Privacy
Implications 
 
*     Watch Out for Cyber-Liberties Infringements in Counter-Terrorism
Legislation; House May Consider Bill in Early December 
 
*     Update and ACTION ALERT on Federal Online Indecency Legislation 
 
*     Online Discussion Groups on Electronic Access Issues 
 
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STATE PAGE (Legislation/Agency/Court Cases) 
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*     New York Civil Liberties Union Opposes Discipline of Cornell Students 
for Offensive Online Speech 
 
The latest controversy over appropriate use of the Internet at universities
erupted last week after four Cornell students made a list of "75 reasons
why women should not have freedom of speech" and the list got loose on the
Internet.  Responding to e-mail and phone complaints about the message,
Cornell considered disciplinary action against the students. 
 
The NYCLU wrote a letter to Cornell on Thursday, November 16th, urging
Cornell not to proceed with disciplinary action.  The letter said, "Freedom
of expression, especially in the academic forum, is designed to encourage
truth-seeking by protecting the challenge and response of intellectual
discourse. . . .  It is understandable that university officials should be
concerned about the increase in the use of sexist language. . . .  However,
no matter how troubling or offensive the message is, the administration of
Cornell University should not depart from principles of freedom of
expression when addressing the issues surrounding this dispute."  The
letter went on to note that "the marketplace theory of free expression
appears to be in full swing as the wrong-minded e-mail message has
apparently already provoked  thousands of angry messages' both to Cornell
and to the particular four students." 
 
On Thursday afternoon, Cornell announced that it would not pursue any
disciplinary action against the students. 
 
For a copy of the letter that NYCLU sent to Cornell, send a message to
infoaclu@aclu.org with "NYCLU Letter to Cornell" in the subject line.  For
more information, contact Beth Haroules, Staff Attorney, NYCLU, at
212-382-0557. 
 
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*     Seattle Negotiates New Franchise Agreement with Cable Network to
Offer Internet Access; ACLU of Washington Testifies at Hearing on Privacy
Implications 
 
Cities across the country are beginning to renegotiate franchise agreements
with cable networks who want to get into the Internet access business. 
Civil libertarians must work to ensure that strong privacy protections are
included in these agreements. 
 
The City of Seattle is currently negotiating a new franchise agreement with
TCI of Seattle, Inc., and the ACLU of Washington urged the city to include
provisions to protect consumer privacy.  In a letter dated November 9th,
ACLU-W said that "franchisees should be prohibited from collecting any data
on individual use of the cable network, including Internet access, except
that data minimally needed for billing purposes. . . .  [T]he franchisee
should be precluded from collecting information about which other Internet
sites are accessed through the cable network, which newsgroups are read,
which real-time interactive forums are participated in, or any other
information that could be used to compile a data profile of the
subscriber."  The letter also urged the city to require technological
protections, like encryption, to guard against unauthorized tapping. 
 
For a copy of the letter, send a message to infoaclu@aclu.org with "cable
franchise agreement" in the subject line.  For more information, contact
Doug Klunder, ACLU-W Information Technology Committee, dougk@eskimo.com. 
 
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FEDERAL PAGE (Congress/Agency/Court Cases) 
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*     Watch Out for Cyber-Liberties Infringements in Counter-Terrorism
Legislation; House May Consider Bill in Early December 
 
The House of Representatives is scheduled to debate a broad
counter-terrorism bill in early December.  (The Senate passed a similar
bill in June 1995.)  While the counter-terrorism bill contains many
unconstitutional provisions, the net community should be particularly alert
to the following: 
 
1.  The pending House counter-terrorism bill contains a funding mechanism
for vastly expanded wiretap capabilities for federal law enforcement
(authorized by the Digital Telephony law passed by Congress last year). The
FBI's scheme would give government an unprecedented ability to intrude on
privacy through increased wiretaps.  The net community should oppose this
and any other funding scheme for the FBI's wiretap proposal.  (See our 11/8
issue of the Cyber-Liberties Update for an ACLU statement and action alert
on the federal wiretap proposal.) 
 
2.  The version of counter-terrorism legislation already passed by the
Senate contains a revised Feinstein Amendment, which makes it a felony "to
distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the
manufacture of explosive materials, if the person intends, or knows that
such explosive materials or information will likely be used for" criminal
purposes.  While the legislation applies to all media, it grew out of
Senator Feinstein's vilification of the Internet at the Senate's May 11th
counter-terrorism  hearings.  The House version of counter-terrorism
legislation does not currently contain language like the Feinstein
Amendment, but the online community should stand ready to oppose any effort
to include such unconstitutional provisions in the final House bill. 
 
For a copy of the ACLU's letter to the Senate in opposition to the original
Feinstein Amendment, send a message to infoaclu@aclu.org with "Feinstein
Amendment" in the subject line. 
 
For further information on the ACLU's opposition to counter-terrorism
legislation (which would also expand the FBI's powers in electronic
surveillance and other areas), visit the ACLU's Constitution Hall on
America Online, at keyword ACLU. 
 
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*     Update and ACTION ALERT on Federal Online Indecency Legislation 
 
The Conference Committee on the telecommunications bill is currently
considering whether to remove provisions that would make "indecency" and
other speech a crime in cyberspace.  The Christian Coalition and other
anti-free-speech groups continue to heavily lobby the Conferees to make the
new speech crimes even stricter than the Exon Amendment.  To counter this
backlash, the online community must overwhelm the Conference Committee with
a loud and clear message -- that parental empowerment tools and not big
government censorship are the only effective means to address children's
access to online content. 
 
While the Conference Committee is home for Thanksgiving, we urge you to
call the Conferees in your state.  To find a list of the home office phone
numbers for the Conferees, see the current ACTION ALERT at
http://www.vtw.org/ 
 
The ACLU continues to prepare for a constitutional challenge to the online
censorship provisions if they become law.  Please contact Ann Beeson,
beeson@aclu.org, if your organization is interested in being a plaintiff in
this ground-breaking litigation that will define First Amendment rights in
cyberspace. 
 
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Online Discussion Groups on Electronic Access Issues 
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The following discussion groups are actively debating government
information and access issues: 
 
GOVPUB -- issues related to publishing local and state government
information online 
Subscribe: listserv@vm1.nodak.edu 
Message: subscribe govpub 
 
GOVACCESS -- citizen access to government information 
Subscribe: majordomo@well.dom 
Message: subscribe govaccess 
 
PUBPOL-D -- substantive discussion of public policy issues 
Subscribe: listserv@vm1.spcs.umn.edu 
Message: subscribe pubpol-d [your name] 
 
COMMUNET -- issues related to community and civic networks 
Subscribe: listserv@uvmvm.uvm.edu 
Message: subscribe communet [your name] 
 
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ONLINE RESOURCES FROM THE ACLU NATIONAL OFFICE 
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Stay tuned for news on the ACLU's world wide web site, under construction
at http://www.aclu.org.  America Online users should check out our live
chats, auditorium events, *very* active message boards, and complete news
on civil liberties, at keyword ACLU. 
 
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ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update 
Editor: Ann Beeson (beeson@aclu.org) 
American Civil Liberties Union National Office 
132 West 43rd Street 
New York, New York 10036 
 
To subscribe to the ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update, send a message to
infoaclu@aclu.org with "subscribe Cyber-Liberties Update" in the subject
line of your message.  To terminate your subscription, send a message to
infoaclu@aclu.org with "unsubscribe Cyber-Liberties Update" in the subject
line. 
 
For general information about the ACLU, write to infoaclu@aclu.org. 
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