Volume 11, No. 01, Mar. 11, 1998
See http://www.eff.org for more information on EFF activities & alerts!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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