----------------------------------------------------------------- _______ _ _ ____ _ _ _ _ |__ __| (_) | | | _ \ | | | | | (_) | |_ __ _ __ _| | | |_) |_ _| | | ___| |_ _ _ __ | | '__| |/ _` | | | _ <| | | | | |/ _ \ __| | '_ \ | | | | | (_| | | | |_) | |_| | | | __/ |_| | | | | |_|_| |_|\__,_|_| |____/ \__,_|_|_|\___|\__|_|_| |_| Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition Update No. 16 December 6, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.cdt.org/ciec/ ciec-info@cdt.org ----------------------------------------------------------------- CIEC UPDATES are intended for members of the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition. CIEC Updates are written and edited by the Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org). This document may be reposted as long as it remains in its entirety. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ** 55,000 Netizens Vs. U.S. Department of Justice. ** * The Fight To Save Free Speech Online * Contents: o Supreme Court Agrees to Hear CDA Challenge o What You Can Do - Join the CIEC! o How to Remove Yourself From This List o More Information on CIEC and the Center for Democracy and Technology ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR LANDMARK CASE TO DETERMINE FUTURE OF FREE SPEECH IN CYBERSAPCE The United States Supreme Court today agreed to hear the government's appeal of a landmark legal challenge to the Communications Decency Act. The case, which will determine the future of freedom of speech in cyberspace, is expected to be heard in March or April. A special panel of federal judges in Philadelphia ruled the CDA unconstitutional in June. The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC), which brought a successful challenge to the CDA earlier this year, applauded the courts decision to hear the case. "This case will determine the future of free expression in the information age, and is the most important first amendment case before the court in recent memory." said Jerry Berman, Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and one of the organizers of the CIEC. "The lower court ruled unequivocally, based on a solid factual record, that the CDA was unconstitutional," Berman added, "and we believe the Supreme Court will agree with them upon review." The CIEC is a broad coalition of groups concerned about the future of the Internet, including on-line service and Internet service providers, libraries, book, magazine, newspaper and music publishers, software companies, public interest organizations, and more than 55,000 individual Internet users. The lead plaintiff in the case is the American Library Association. The Philadelphia court ruled the CDA unconstitutional in June, agreeing with the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition's arguments that: * The Internet is a unique communications medium that deserves free speech protection at least as broad as that enjoyed by print medium. * Individual users and parents -- not the government -- should decide what material is appropriate for their children, and; * Simple, inexpensive user empowerment technology is a very effective and constitutional way of limiting the access of minors to inappropriate material on the Internet. The CIEC challenge, also known as ALA v DOJ, was consolidated with a separate lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and 20 other plaintiffs, ACLU v. Reno. The cases were argued together before the three-judge federal panel in Philadelphia last spring, and the legal teams continue to work together as co-plaintiffs in the Supreme Court phase. The Communications Decency Act (CDA), passed by Congress in February 1996 for the first time imposed far reaching broadcast-style content regulations on the Internet. The full text of the Philadelphia ruling and other information on the case can be found on the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition Web Page (http://www.cdt.org/ciec/). Please also visit the CIEC web page for the latest news and information about the case. The 27 plaintiffs in the case include: American Library Association, Inc.; America Online, Inc.; American Booksellers Association, Inc.; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; American Society of Newspaper Editors; Apple Computer, Inc.; Association of American Publishers, Inc.; Association of Publishers, Editors and Writers; Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition; Commercial Internet eXchange; CompuServe Incorporated.; Families Against Internet Censorship; Freedom to Read Foundation, Inc.; Health Sciences Libraries Consortium; HotWired Ventures LLC; Interactive Digital Software Association; Interactive Services Association; Magazine Publishers of America, Inc.; Microsoft Corporation; Microsoft Network; National Press Photographers Association; NETCOM On-Line Communication Services, Inc.; Newspaper Association of America; Opnet, Inc.; Prodigy Services Company; Wired Ventures, Ltd.; and, the Society of Professional Journalists Ltd. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT YOU CAN DO -- JOIN THE CITIZENS INTERNET EMPOWERMENT COALITION If you use the Internet to send email, post to usenet newsgroups, maintain your own world wide web page, or participate in online discussion forums, you could face serious prison time and huge fines under the CDA if someone, somewhere, considers the material you put online to be "indecent" or "patently offensive". Since February of 1996, more than 55,000 individual Internet Users have joined the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition. The large number of individual Internet users is intended to illustrate to the Court, the press, and the public that each and every Internet user is a publisher and cold be liable under the CDA. If you haven't done so already, please take a moment to become a part of this landmark case: Visit the CIEC web site for details -- http://www.cdt.org/ciec/ It's fast, it's free, and it will help us preserve the future of the Internet as a viable means of free expression, education, and commerce. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Remove Yourself From This List As CIEC members, you have been invited to join this list in order to receive news updates and other information relevant to the CIEC challenge to the Communications Decency Act. If you ever want to remove yourself from this list, send email to ciec-members-request@cdt.org with 'unsubscribe ciec-members' in the SUBJECT LINE (w/o the 'quotes'). Leave the body of your message blank. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For More Information For more information on the CIEC challenge, including the text of the original complaint filed in early '96 and other relevant materials: * World Wide Web -- http://www.cdt.org/ciec/ * General Information about CIEC -- ciec-info@cdt.org * Copy of the Original Complaint -- ciec-docs@cdt.org * Specific Questions Regarding the Coalition, including Press Inquiries -- ciec@cdt.org * General information about the Center for Democracy and Technology -- info@cdt.org -- end ciec-update.16 +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ This transmission was brought to you by.... THE CDA DISASTER NETWORK The CDA Disaster Network is a moderated distribution list providing up-to-the-minute bulletins and background on efforts to overturn the Communications Decency Act. To subscribe, send email to with "subscribe cda-bulletin" in the message body. To unsubscribe, send email to with "unsubscribe cda-bulletin" in the message body. WARNING: This is not a test! WARNING: This is not a drill! +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+