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Free Speech Media, LLC
August 14, 1995
Number 12
5 pages
====================================================
Compiled, written, and edited by Coralee Whitcomb
Please direct comments and inquiries to cwhitcom@bentley.edu
====================================================
The Telecom Post is posted to several distribution lists and is also available
from the CPSR listserv. To subscribe, send to LISTSERV@CPSR.ORG with the
message SUBSCRIBE TELECOM-POST YOUR NAME.
The Telecom Post will be published weekly while the U.S. Congress works on
a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S information delivery systems.
======================================================
TOPICS
1. Freedom of Speech
Cox/Wyden
HR1555, Manager's Amendment
The Communications Decency Act
The Protection of Children Against Pornography Act
The Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of 1995
Export Controls
2. Regulatory Reform
3. Nonprofit Gag Rules
4. Spectrum Flexibility
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Hats off to the terrific effort put forth the ACLU, People for
the American Way, Voters Telecom Watch, Center for Democratic
Technology, and the many others that put out such heroic efforts
to protect the freedom of speech on the Internet through the
Cox/Wyden amendment. The Internet Freedom and Family
Empowerment amendment passed with a vote of 420 to 4 during the
final hours of HR1555 debate.
Cox/Wyden language:
"No provider or user of interactive computer services shall be
treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided
by an information content provider. No provider or user of
interactive computer services shall be held liable on account of
--
(1) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict
access to material that the provider or user considers to be
obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent,
harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such
material is constitutionally protected; or
(2) any action take to make available to information content
providers or others the technical means to restrict access to
material described in paragraph (1)"
"Nothing in this Act shall be construed to grant any
jurisdiction or authority to the Commission (FCC) with respect
to content or other regulation of the Internet or other
interactive computer services."
The ACLU has put forth the following principles to be adhered to
in any legislation.
1. The First Amendment Rights of all Americans must be
preserved.
2. Policies must empower users -- including parents -- to make
personal decisions about content.
3. There should be no incentive for government or private
industry to infringe on privacy rights by reading private e-mail.
4. The online world must operate free from intrusive and
unenforceable government content regulation.
HR1555 - Manager's Amendment
Lest we declare the First Amendment victory, a closer look at
the infamous "Manager's Amendment" is necessary. This
amendment, which altered much of the final outcome of HR1555,
had a sneaky bit of First Amendment abuse tucked inside. The
Protection of Minors provision makes criminally liable anyone
who "intentionally communicates by computer... to any person the
communicator believes has not attained the age of 18 years, any
material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms
patently offensive as measured by contemporary community
standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs." It also
makes it a crime to receive prohibited material by computer thus
including all possible geographical locations of senders and
receivers in its "community standards". This is fundamentally
no different than the spirit of the Exon Amendment. The
chilling effect it would produce "would effectively reduce all
online content to that which is suitable only for children" and
"reduce all online speech to the obscenity standards of the most
restrictive community in the United States..." claims an ACLU
alert.
The Communications Decency Act also known as the Exon Amendment
and now Title IV of the Telecommunications Competition and
Deregulation Act of 1995.
Though the opposition in the House to the Exon Amendment might
give us a sense of relief, the passage of HR 1555 does not mean
it is gone for good. When the conference committee convenes, it
will have to strike an agreement between Cox/Wyden and the CDA,
both having passed overwhelmingly in their respective houses.
The Protection of Children from Computer Pornography Act, S892
Sponsored by Dole (R-KS), Coats (R-IN), Grassley (R-IA),
McConnell (R-KY), Shelby (R-AL), Nickles (R-OK), Hatch (R-UT).
Would impose criminal penalties on a service provider that
knowingly transmits indecent material to a minor, or who
"willfully" permits its network to be used to transmit indecent
material to a minor. Obscene speech is not constitutionally
protected, however, indecent speech is, giving this act
questionable constitutionality. There is no evidence that
current law is insufficient to cover the spirit of this act and
the feared outcome is that service providers would have to rely
on the broadest possible interpretation of the statute in order
to avoid liability. The chilling effect on the entire Internet
would be severe.
Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of 1995, S974
Sponsored by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), this bill will
allow for export of cryptography products as long as it is
sufficient for commercial use but still able to be broken by the
US intelligence community. All encoding or encrypting software
would be required to include a "universal decoding device" a la
Clipper Chip
Export Controls
Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has introduced the
Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of 1995 that outlaws software
that encrypts communications knowingly accessible to foreign
nationals and foreign governments regardless as to whether it is
designated non-exportable.
Would they really control what we see and here? - You bet
The 90's Channel, the nation's only full-time progressive
television network is currently facing huge increases in their
renewal rates from Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) Increases
that would "drive us out of business for sure", claims John
Schwartz, president of the channel. At the same time TCI
intends to air "Damn Right", a daily political program with a
decidedly right-wing bent.
The campaign to rid the airwaves of 90's Channel programming
started in August, 1992 when TCI informed that channel that it
was to be dropped. After court proceedings, an agreement was
reached to continue carriage until October 31 of this year.
REGULATORY REFORM
A group of Democratic senators, led by John Kerry (D-MA) have
been working on a package of amendments that would make S343
more acceptable. The Center for Sensible Safeguards has been
closely monitoring and advising the Democratic group while
asking the rest of us to keep the pressure on. This bill is
undergoing terrific scrutiny by industry and enormous pressure
is felt by all the legislators involved. It's beginning to
sound more like political football than a genuine effort at
improving the legislative process. It is still unclear as to
whether the Democrats want a passable bill or simply want to
humiliate Senator Dole. The bill is currently on hold until
after the recess.
S343 would impose cost-benefit analysis and judicial review on
existing and new regulations. If the process is not
successfully completed in a given amount of time, the regulation
would be rendered unnecessary. This bill would eliminate many
of the health, safety, and environmental safeguards that we have
come to expect. It would tie up the courts terribly. Clinton
has vowed to veto this bill in its current form.
NONPROFIT GAG RULE
The move to drastically limit public advocacy work financed by
federal funds was passed on August 4, 1995 as a part of the
Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations bill. Rep. David Skaggs
(D-CO) proposed an amendment to delete the "Istook amendment"
but it failed by a vote of 187-232. The appropriations bill won
by a vote of 219-208. Rep. David Obey (D-WI) stated that the
bill was a "mean and ugly piece of work" and that it was a
"vicious exercise of public power". The August 7, New York
Times described the amendment as a "remarkable rider" which
"calls for a cutoff of grants to nonprofit entities if they
spend more than a threshold amount - even of money from other
sources - on political advocacy. A cancer society that gets
Federal funds might then not be able to testify before congress
on the best prospects for cancer research".
This nasty piece of legislation still must pass the Senate
before it becomes law. The advocacy group, Independent Sector,
will be holding "road shows" in states where members of the
Senate Appropriations Labor HHS Committee reside in order to
drum up opposition during the next series of legislative steps.
SPECTRUM FLEXIBILITY
New spectrum, valued at $100 billion has been given to the
broadcast industry for free. Originally reserved for the
transition to HDTV technology, broadcasters now wish to use this
spectrum for more profitable ventures such as PCAs, pay-TV,
paging and data services. HR 1555 provided this $100 billion
gift.
Other, more public minded initiatives have emerged for a more
public use of this spectrum. Apple has submitted a petition to
the FCC (RM-8653) for an unlicensed "NII band". This 300
megahertz band would be made available to the American citizenry
for free (the petition can be found at
http://www.apple.com/documents/fcc.html). This would appear to
be the last remaining hope for that "electronic commons" so many
of us once thought possible - Space, set aside, for free, for
everyone. The deadline for public comment on this proposal was
July 25.
Now that HR1555 has passed, the last public attempt at
retrieving a portion of the public air waves for non-commercial
use is in the making. The Small Business Survival Committee is
creating the "Campaign for Broadcast Competition" which will
attempt to enhance public understanding of the issue. The
Campaign will use the argument that broadcasters be held to the
same financial barriers that exist for everyone else - the
spectrum should be auctioned and the proceeds used to reduce the
deficit.
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