1995

Dec. 12 - National Day of Internet Protest against net censorship legislation
URL: http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/s652_hr1555.alert

Dec. 14 - Rally Against Internet Censorship, 12noon-1pm, South Park, San Francisco Calif.
Help stop the demagogues in Washington! There is nothing "decent" about denying free speech to us, our children, and our children's children. Preserve our Constitutional rights! Join us! Speakers to include EFF staff counsel Mike Godwin, EFF co-founder John Gilmore, Jim Warren (GovAccess), Howard Rheingold (Virtual Community author), Dave Winder (essayist), CPSR exec. dir. Audrie Krause, Jonathan Steuer (Cyborganic Corp. CEO), and EFF boardmembers emeritus Denise Caruso (New York Times) and Jane Metcalfe (Wired).
Contact: Todd Lappin, +1 415 222 6241 (voice - please see URL first)
Email: protest@wired.com
URL: http://www.hotwired.com/staff/digaman

1996

Jan. 17 - 18 Innovation Now; Oregon Convention Center, Portland Oregon.
Sponsored by American Electronics Association's Oregon Council, et al. Speakers include EFF chair of the board Esther Dyson.
URL: http://www.innovationnow.org/

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Subject: Quote Of The Day

"Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master"
- George Washington, first US President

Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe when bills to censor the Internet are swimming about in a sea of of surveillance legislation and anti-terrorism hysteria? Worried that in the rush to make us secure from ourselves that our government representatives may deprive us of our essential civil liberties? Concerned that legislative efforts nominally to "protect children" will actually censor all communications down to only content suitable for the playground? Alarmed by commercial and religious organizations abusing intellectual property law to stifle satire, dissent and criticism?

Join EFF!

Even if you don't live in the U.S., the anti-Internet hysteria will soon be visiting a legislative body near you. If it hasn't already.

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Subject: What YOU Can Do

The Communications Decency Act and similar legislation pose serious threats to freedom of expression online, and to the livelihoods of system operators. The legislation also undermines several crucial privacy protections.

Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt. affairs office and/or legal counsel. Everyone should write to their own Representatives and Senators, and especially the conference committee members, asking them to oppose Internet censorship legislation, and write to the conference committee members to support the reasonable approaches of Leahy, Klink, Cox and Wyden, and to oppose the unconstitutional proposals of Exon, Gorton and others. Urge them to accept Whyte's demands that system operators not be held liable for crimes they did not commit, that the FCC be barred from regulating the Internet, and that if your Congressperson is hell-bent on passing some restriction, any restriction, on the Net, that he or she vote to pass only a "obscenity" or "harmful to minors" statute, and condemn any unconstitutional national indecency standard. See the lead article in this newsletter for info on what else you can do.

For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other dangerous legislation, see:

If you do not have full internet access, send your request for information to ask@eff.org.

The FBI is now seeking both funding for the DT/CALEA wiretapping provisions, and preparing to require that staggering numbers of citizens be simultaneously wiretappable.

To oppose the funding, write to your own Senators and Representatives urging them to vote against any appropriations for wiretapping. To oppose the FBI's wiretapping capacity demands, see the FBI Federal Register notice at the end of the second article in this newsletter, which contains instructions on how to submit formal comments on the ludicrous and dangerous proposal.

Numerous bills threatening your privacy and free speech have been introduced this year. None of them are close to passage at this very moment, but this status may change. Urge your Congresspersons to oppose these unconstitutional and Big-Brotherish bills.

This bill is unlikely to pass in any form, being very poorly drafted, and without much support. However, the CDA is just as bad and passed with flying colors [the jolly roger?] in the Senate. It's better to be safe than sorry. If you have a few moments to spare, writing to, faxing, or calling your Congresspersons to urge opposition to this bill is a good idea. If you only have time to do limited activism, please concentrate on the Internet censorship legislation instead. That legislation is far more imminent that the AERA.

Several bills relating to medical privacy issues are floating in Congress right now. Urge your legislators to support only proposals that truly enhance the medical privacy of citizens.

More information on this legislation will be available at http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Medical/ soon. Bug mech@eff.org to make it appear there faster. :)

Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress is one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues.

EFF has lists of the Senate and House with contact information, as well as lists of Congressional committees. (A House list is included in this issue of EFFector). These lists are available at:

The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively. Those not in the U.S. should seek out similar information about their own legislative bodies. EFF will be happy to archive any such information provided.

If you are having difficulty determining who your Representatives are, try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great deal of legislative information, or consult the free ZIPPER service that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85% accuracy at:

You know privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard in government are important. You have probably participated in our online campaigns and forums. Have you become a member of EFF yet? The best way to protect your online rights is to be fully informed and to make your opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference. Join EFF today!

For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.

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Administrivia

The Electronic Frontier Foundation
1667 K St. NW, Suite 801
Washington DC 20006-1605 USA
+1 202 861 7700 (voice)
+1 202 861 1258 (fax)
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Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
Hardcopy publications: pubs@eff.org
General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org

Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Services Mgr./Activist/Archivist (mech@eff.org)
This newsletter printed on 100% recycled electrons.

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission. Press releases and EFF announcements may be reproduced individ- ually at will.

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