EFFector        Vol. 11, No. 1        Mar. 11, 1998        [email protected]
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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