A real scary e-mail, I got from ncoic Gentlebeings; Well We the People LOSE again. For Evil to TRIUMPH all that is required is for Good to do NOTHING... NCOIC Civil Intelligence Association, Defense Oversight Group http://www.netcom.com/~ncoic ------Begin forward message------------------------- Reply-To: Ari Schwartz ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _____ _____ _______ / ____| __ \__ __| ____ ___ ____ __ | | | | | | | | / __ \____ / (_)______ __ / __ \____ _____/ /_ | | | | | | | | / /_/ / __ \/ / / ___/ / / / / /_/ / __ \/ ___/ __/ | |____| |__| | | | / ____/ /_/ / / / /__/ /_/ / / ____/ /_/ (__ ) /_ \_____|_____/ |_| /_/ \____/_/_/\___/\__, / /_/ \____/____/\__/ The Center for Democracy and Technology /____/ Volume 4, Number 22 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CDT POLICY POST Volume 4, Number 22 September 24, 1998 CONTENTS: (1) House Commerce Committee OKs the Oxley bill (2) Background Information on HR 3783 (3) Subscription Information (4) About CDT ** This document may be redistributed freely with this banner intact ** Excerpts may be re-posted with permission of |PLEASE SEE END OF THIS DOCUMENT FOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION| _____________________________________________________________________________ (1) House Commerce Committee OKs the Oxley bill The House Commerce Committee passed the Child Online Protection Act (HR 3783) today. Like the Communications Decency Act, which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last year, HR 3783, sponsored by Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), threatens to chill free speech on the Internet. A similar bill has already passed in the Senate, so a censorship bill could very likely become law sometime this year. At today's mark-up, the Committee voted for a new version of the bill which would narrow its reach, but the bill remains unconstitutional because it: 1) imposes serious burdens on constitutionally-protected speech; 2) fails to effectively serve the government's interest in protecting children; and 3) does not represent the least restrictive means of regulating speech. The new version of the bill calls for a study that could help Congress to identify the least restrictive means of regulating speech. However, since the bill would go into effect before the study is completed, Congress is clearly passing the law without knowledge of the effectiveness of existing tools and other means to prevent children from accessing harmful content. ________________________________________________________________________________ (2) Background Information on HR 3783 For further information regarding this important piece of legislation, please consult the following helpful links: - Text of the Committee Amendment: http://www.cdt.org/legislation/speech/oxley.html - Constitutional problems with HR 3783: http://www.cdt.org/speech/constitutional.html - CDT's Analysis of the bill: http://www.cdt.org/speech/statement/oxleycomments.html - Summary of CDT Executive Director Jerry Berman's Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications (9/11/98): http://www.cdt.org/speech/testimony/jbermantestsum.html - Original text of bill on Thomas: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c105:./temp/~c105KCH0nQ - CDT's List of Legislation Affecting Free Speech on the Internet http://www.cdt.org/legislation/speech/ ________________________________________________________________________________ (3) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Be sure you are up to date on the latest public policy issues affecting civil liberties online and how they will affect you! Subscribe to the CDT Policy Post news distribution list. CDT Policy Posts, the regular news publication of the Center For Democracy and Technology, are received by more than 13,000 Internet users, industry leaders, policy makers and activists, and have become the leading source for information about critical free speech and privacy issues affecting the Internet and other interactive communications media. To subscribe to CDT's Policy Post list, send mail to majordomo@cdt.org in the BODY of the message (leave the SUBJECT LINE BLANK), type subscribe policy-posts If you ever wish to remove yourself from the list, send mail to the above address with a subject of: unsubscribe policy-posts _____________________________________________________________________________ (4) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest organization based in Washington, DC. The Center's mission is to develop and advocate public policies that advance democratic values and constitutional civil liberties in new computer and communications technologies. Contacting us: General information: info@cdt.org World Wide Web: http://www.cdt.org/ Snail Mail: The Center for Democracy and Technology 1634 Eye Street NW * Suite 1100 * Washington, DC 20006 (v) +1.202.637.9800 * (f) +1.202.637.0968 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End Policy Post 4.22 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Ari Schwartz Policy Analyst Center for Democracy and Technology 1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006 202 637 9800 fax 202 637 0968 ari@cdt.org http://www.cdt.org ------------------------------------ ------End forward message--------------------------- Qui custodiet ipso custode?: "Who shall guard us from our Guardians?"