EFFector Vol. 11, No. 1 Mar. 11, 1998 editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THIS ISSUE:
IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT, MAR. 12 DEADLINE:
CONTACT KEY SENATORS TO OPPOSE MCCAIN/COATS INTERNET CENSORSHIP BILLS
1. INTRO
2. IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE
3. SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
4. MORE ACTION TO TAKE
ADMINISTRIVIA
See http://www.eff.org for more information on EFF activities & alerts!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Electronic Frontier Foundation For immediate release: Mar. 11, 1998
IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT, MAR. 12 DEADLINE:
CONTACT KEY SENATORS TO OPPOSE MCCAIN/COATS INTERNET CENSORSHIP BILLS
Please distribute widely to appropriate forums, no later than Apr. 1, 1998.
SUMMARY:
* Latest News:
Senate "CDA 2" bills would renew "Communications Decency
Act"-style online content ban, and force federally-funded
libraries (and schools) to censor with filtering software.
* What You Can Do Now:
Follow the directions below and call Sen. John McCain and members
of Senate Commerce Committee. Ask them to allow parents to make
choices for their children, and teachers to run classrooms,
instead of imposing federal government censorship that will not
protect children anyway. Explain that Internet censorship bills
are unconstitutional.
_________________________________________________________________
THE LATEST NEWS
On Feb. 9, 1998, US Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a new piece of
Internet Censorship legislation, the "Internet School Filtering Act",
S.1619. Rep. Bob Franks (R-NJ, 7th Dist.) introduced a House version,
the "Safe Schools Internet Act", H.R.3177. The McCain/Franks
legislation would mandate that any public libraries, or schools,
receiving federal funds from the 1996 Telecommunication Act universal
service fund must install "a system for computers with Internet access
to filter or block matter deemed to be inappropriate for minors."
This legislation follows on the heels of another "CDA 2", an unnamed
bill, S.1482, by Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) that attempts to replace the
failed "Communications Decency Act" and it's "indecency" standard of
censorship with a "harmful to minors" standard in hopes of passing
constitutionality challenges in the courts.
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) has indicated that at the Thursday, March 12,
Commerce Committee markup meeting he may introduce an amendment to
S.1619 to require libraries and schools to simply certify that they
have local Internet appropriate use policies (AUPs), in order to
receive the e-rate telecommunications discounts (subsidies available
under the Telecommunications Act of 1996). Although the Burns
legislation would be a far more acceptable alternative to Sen.
McCain's bill, we feel that no bill conditioning library/school
subsidies on a notion of "appropriateness" of content is good or
necessary, and that the threat posed by the McCain legislation is
sufficient that the Commerce Committee needs to receive an unambiguous
message from the public to stop S.1619 in its tracks.
Theocratic organizations like the Family Research Council are asking
their supporters to lobby for the McCain bill and to oppose Sen.
Burns's alternative.
YOUR immediate countering action is needed to preserve online free
speech! The Senate needs to hear opposition to censorship or it will
bow to the extremists' pressure to censor.
_________________________________________________________________
IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE
Free speech supporters, *especially supporters from states represented
on the Commerce Committee*, are asked to IMMEDIATELY contact these key
Senators and ask them to "kill" the McCain bill, S.1619, and Coats
bill, S.1482, at the Senate Commerce Committee markup meeting this
Thursday, March 12 1998 at 9:30am (ET).
We ask you to take JUST TWO MINUTES or so per call to contact the
offices of Sen. McCain (Chair of the Commerce Committee) and the rest
of the Committee and express your opposition to this legislation! Urge
the Senators to allow parents to make choices for their children, and
teachers to run classrooms, instead of imposing federal government
censorship that will not protect children anyway.
Feel free to make use of the sample fax and phone "script" below.
SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE & TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
ST PTY SENATOR PHONE FAX
---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)---
AZ R John McCain, chair 224-2235 228-2862
SC D Ernest Hollings, rnk. mem. 224-6121 224-4293
AK R Ted Stevens 224-3004 224-2354
HI D Daniel K. Inouye 224-3934 224-6747
KS R Sam Brownback 224-6521 228-1265
KY D Wendell H. Ford 224-4343 224-0046
LA D John B. Breaux 224-4623 228-2577
ME R Olympia J. Snowe 224-5344 224-1946
MA D John F. Kerry 224-2742 224-8525
MI R Spencer Abraham 224-4822 224-8834
MS R Trent Lott 224-6253 224-2262
MO R John Ashcroft 224-6154 228-0998
MT R Conrad Burns 224-2644 224-8594
NV D Richard H. Bryan 224-6244 224-1867
ND D Byron L. Dorgan 224-2551 224-1193
OR D Ron Wyden 224-5244 228-2717
TN R Bill Frist 224-3344 228-1264
TX R Kay Bailey Hutchison 224-5922 224-0776
WA R Slade Gorton 224-3441 224-9393
WV D John D. Rockefeller, IV 224-6472 224-7665
_________________________________________________________________
SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
If you would like to both call, and send a fax, this extra action
would certainly help.
For best results try to put this in your own (short!) words, and be
emotive without being hostile.
IF YOU ARE A CONSTITUENT (i.e., you live in the same state as the
Senator you are contacting, or the same district as the Rep. you are
contacting) make sure to say so. For example "I am a constituent, and
I'm calling/writing because..."
IF YOU ARE A PARENT, mention this too: "As a constitutent, and a
parent of two, I'm calling to urge the Senator..."
IF YOU REPRESENT A COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION, say so: "I'm Jane Person
from Personal Technologies Inc. of Austin. I'm calling on behalf of
Personal Technologies to ask the Senator to..." Business interests
carry a lot of weight with many legislators, especially if they are in
the legislator's home state/district. Legislators also generally heed
organizational voices over individiual ones.
PHONE "SCRIPT"
You: [ring ring]
Legislative staffer: Hello, Senator Lastname's office.
You: I'm calling to urge the Senator to REJECT online censorship
bills, like S.1619 and S.1482. These bills are clear threats to the
First Amendment. They won't protect children, just censor them, and
adults. Filtering software can't block legal categories like
"obscene", but it DOES block all kinds of political speech and news
reportage. Parents and teachers, not the FCC or Congress, should
decide what is and isn't OK for kids to read. This is a local and
state, not federal, matter. And censorship does not belong in our
public libraries at all. Thank you.
Staffer: OK, thanks. [click]
It's that easy.
You can optionally ask to speak to the legislator's technology
staffer. You probably won't get to, but the message may have more
weight if you succeed. The staffer who first answers the phone
probably won't be the tech staffer.
SAMPLE FAX
Relevant Congressional fax numbers are in the contact list above.
Please, if you have the time, write your own 1-3 paragraph letter in
your own words, rather than send a copy of this sample letter (though
even that is far better than taking no action!)
Dear Sen. Lastname:
I'm writing to urge you to reject online censorship bills, like the
McCain "Internet School Filtering Act", S.1619, and the Coats "CDA
2" or "online harmful to minors" bill, S.1482. These bills are clear
threats to the First Amendment. They won't protect children, just
censor them, and adults as well.
Filtering software like that mandated by S.1619, is physically
incapable of blocking legal categories of content such as "obscene"
or "harmful to minors", but it DOES block all kinds of political
speech and news reportage. The bill is unconstitutionally vague and
over-broad. Based on some third party's notion of
"inappropriateness", a term with no legal meaning, S.1619 calls for
widespread censorship of material that is protected by the First
Amendment, even for minors. Such a law would also violate adults'
constitutional rights, especially as applied to libraries. As for
S.1482, this bill is simply an attempt at re-passing the doomed
"Communications Decency Act" (CDA). All of the faults of the
original CDA are still present in this new bill, including
vagueness, reduction of adults to reading only what is fit for
children, and expansion of FCC powers to include Internet
regulation, which has also already been rejected by the Supreme
Court. Neither bill calls for the least restrictive means. As with
the CDA, civil liberties groups are already preparing an immediate
legal challege to this legislation should it pass.
Parents and teachers, not the FCC or Congress, should decide what is
and isn't appropriate for our children to read, at home, in the
library and in the classroom. This is a local and state, not
federal, matter.
Sincerely,
My Name Here
My Address Here
(Address is especially important if you want your letter to be taken
as a letter from an actual constituent.)
For brief tips on writing letters to Congress, see:
http://www.vote-smart.org/contact/contact.html
The most important tip is to BE POLITE AND BRIEF. Swearing will NOT
help.
_________________________________________________________________
MORE ACTION TO TAKE
After calling/faxing members of the Senate Commerce Committee, please
contact your own Senators and urge them to oppose the McCain & Coats
Internet censorship bills. Do this even after the Mar. 12 deadline for
the main action.
You may also wish to follow up your calls and faxes with e-mail.
If you are unsure who your legislators are or how to contact them, see
the EFF Congress Contact Factsheet at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
For more information about the McCain & Coats Internet censorship
bills and why they should be opposed, and the draft Burns amendment,
including the full text of these bills, see the Blue Ribbon Campaign
for Online Free Speech page at:
http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html
[end of alert]
______________________________________________________________________
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