Mike found the following on the Town Hall web pages, an umbrella site for conservative organizations. Most, but not all, are in favor of the telecom bill. -Declan --- Topic 1108 [media]: Martin Rimm and the Cyberporn Scare, Continued #829 of 837: Mike Godwin (mnemonic) Wed Jan 3 '96 (00:27) 43 lines It will be recalled that Marty Rimm relied heavily on the "Dietz-Sears" study of pornography. Here's some information on Alan Sears from the Town Hall web page: ---------- Alan E. Sears Pornography is one of the controversial issues of our day. How do we balance First Amendment rights with the goal of maintaining community standards of decency? Is pornography really a "victimless crime?" No one in America is better able to answer these questions than Alan Sears. As executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Alan Sears "wrote the book" on how and why we need to control pornography. While working in the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Sears successfully prosecuted many pornography cases. As executive director of the Children's Legal Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona, and, later, as executive director of the National Family Legal Foundation, he advised state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and legislators on the legal issues surrounding pornography. Mr. Sears has appeared on all network news shows (ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN), and he has been featured on programs such as the "Today Show," the "CBS Morning News," "Oprah Winfrey" and others. He has also been a frequent guest on Dr. James Dobson's national radio show, "Focus on the Family." Alan Sears brings a perspective to the pornography debate that liberals never present to college audiences. Suggested topics for Mr. Sears include: "Pornography: The Battle for the Salvation of Our Children" "The False Form of Speech" "Women at Risk: Why Pornography is not a Victimless Crime" Topic 1108 [media]: Martin Rimm and the Cyberporn Scare, Continued #830 of 837: Mike Godwin (mnemonic) Wed Jan 3 '96 (00:34) 120 lines This from Marty's pal, Deen Kaplan -- also on the Town Hall web page: -------- COMPUTER PORNOGRAPHY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WHAT TYPES OF PORNOGRAPHY ARE FREELY AVAILABLE TO ANYONE ON THE INTERNET? The entire spectrum of pornographic material is available on computer networks including images of soft-core nudity, hard-core sex acts, anal sex, bestiality, bondage & dominion, sado-masochism (including actual torture and mutilation, usually of women, for sexual pleasure), scatological acts (defecating and urinating, usually on women, for sexual pleasure), fetishes, and child pornography. Additionally, there is textual pornography including detailed text stories of the rape, mutilation, and torture of women, sexual abuse of children, graphic incest, etc. WHO CAN ACCESS PORNOGRAPHY ON THE INTERNET? Virtually anyone with an account or access to the Internet can access pornography. Once "on-line" there are no truly effective safety measures to prevent children from accessing all of the pornography described above. This unlimited access to pornography, with no accurate, enforceable age check and no verification procedures, has never occurred in the print, broadcast, satellite or cable media before. Cyberspace is currently the free speech absolutist's dream world. WHERE DO CHILDREN AND ADULTS FIND PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET? Pornography is publicly available through the Internet by accessing sections in the hierarchies of the Usenet and at a number of sites on the World-Wide-Web. It is also traded daily via Internet e-mail and sites set up for the exchange of pornography. ARE THESE SITES POPULAR OR IS THIS REALLY A SMALL PROBLEM? Although surveys done by on-line administrators indicate that pornographic sites are among the most often used on the Internet, the relative percentage of pornographic sites is not certain. Regardless of the actual number of sites, which is on the rise, the problem of pornography continues to be a very serious one. Like drugs, pornography's destructive effects are felt far beyond the "pusher" and "user." DON'T WE NEED FURTHER STUDY BEFORE WE TAKE ACTION ON AN ISSUE THAT AFFECTS THE FUTURE OF CYBERSPACE? Proposals to "study" the issue of computer pornography are attempts by the ACLU and other ideological groups to delay legislative action on this problem. They fight virtually any legislative restriction on materials distributed on-line, and want to dump all responsibility for action into the laps of parents, many of whom are far less technologically capable than their children. ISN'T THE ON-LINE COMMUNITY AGAINST PROPOSALS FOR "DECENCY" ON THE INTERNET? Some of the on-line community and many of the media are opposed to any proposals to regulate the Internet or children's access to pornography. However, out of an estimated 20 million predominately male users of various on-line networks, fewer than 2 percent have opposed the proposals. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OBSCENITY AND INDECENCY? Obscenity is hard-core sexual material so graphic and unredeeming that it meets the Supreme Court's three-part test: (1) it appeals to an abnormal or excessive interest in sex; (2) it depicts or describes sexually explicit conduct in a patently offensive way; and (3) it lacks serious literary artistic, political, or scientific value. Miller v. California (1973). Indecency is a pattern of patently offensive depictions or descriptions of sexual or excretory activities or organs. Pacifica v. F.C.C. (1978). This material is legal for consenting adults, but can be regulated so that it is kept from children. WON'T THE BANNING OF "INDECENT" MATERIALS JEOPARDIZE SERIOUS WORKS OF LITERATURE OR LIBRARY ART? No. This argument is no more credible now than it was when used against indecency laws in other contexts. No serious literary or artistic works would be banned by an indecency law. Society has long embraced the principle that those who peddle harmful material have the obligation to keep the material from children. Computer indecency should be no exception. AREN'T THERE "TECHNICAL FIXES" THAT ARE LESS INTRUSIVE THAN A REGULATORY OR CRIMINAL LAW APPROACH? No. To date, only a few software programs have been released to regulate children's access to pornography, such as SurfWatch and NetNanny. Also, these programs can be bypassed by users with a good knowledge of the Internet and some technical sophistication. Even if better technical solutions become available, this approach is inadequate in and of itself because: children can walk down the street to another computer parents' technical ability often pales in comparison to their children's expertise pornographers aren't legally discouraged from peddling their materials to children The above material includes excerpts adapted from "Children, Pornography and Cyberspace: The Problem, Solutions & the Current Congressional Debate" published by the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families. -- 11/8/95