Events in the life of the 1995 Communications Decency Act Events in the life of the bill We continue to archive information and events significant to the 1995 Communications Decency Act. Send additions to vtw@vtw.org. The best version of this file can be viewed with the World Wide Web at URL: http://www.panix.com/vtw/exon/events.html. June 24, 1995: The American Reporter will bring a case against CDA The American Reporter has stated they will immediately bring a case against the Communications Decency Act should it be signed by the Preseident. A martyr for a test case has already volunteered. June 21, 1995: Newt Gingrich speaks out against the CDA Newt Gingrich speaks out against the CDA in a RealAudio sample, or for the RealAudio-challenged, there's a text version as well. June 14, 1995: The final version of the CDA and the roll call vote The Senate debated the Communications Decency Act today. They voted 84-16 to pass the Communications Decency Act (with minor amendments). The Leahy alternative was not attached to the bill. June 14, 1995: Sen. Exon & Coats release their amendend Decency Act Senators Exon and Coats release their amended Communiations Decency Act which includes a ban on indecent material on basic cable channels. Because it has changed little, activists continue to oppose it because it is unconstitutional. June 13, 1995: Progressive Networks, Netscape & Microsoft announce joint venture Progressive Networks, Netscape and Microsoft announce future functionality in their products and services that will allow parents to use any third party criteria for rating Internet content. The announcement is intended to deflect support for the Communications Decency Act and encourage support for the Leahy study. June 13, 1995: Sen. Robb (D-VA) introduces a Sense of the Senate motion Sen. Robb introduces a Sense of the Senate resolution as an amendment to the CDA, that urges a study be done on the use of voluntary, content-provider based labelling. Because the onus of labelling is on the content-provider, it follows the broadcast model which cannot hope to suffice in an interactive environment. A better solution would be to enable browsers and other front end software to use any third party labelling system, such as the announcement from Progressive Networks, Netscape, & Microsoft or the SurfWatch product. June 6, 1995: US District court finds the CDA unconstitutional The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an en banc decision in the case of Alliance for Community Media v. FCC, (Docket #93-1169). That decision clearly established that, if enacted, the Communications Decency Act would be held unconstitutional. June 6, 1995: Senators Dole and Grassley announce their version of the CDA Senators Dole (R-KS) and Grassley (R-IA) disclosed their plans for their own version of the Communications Decency Act. It places a blanket prohibition on profane or indecent speech (both protected from such treatment by the Supreme Court. Analysis of it is provided by the Center of Democracy and Technology. June 3, 1995: National Journal article on net politics Graem Browning's article in the National Journal covers the Communications Decency Act and activism on the net. May 25, 1995: Amended CDA is leaked from Exon's office The Department of Justice, several large service providers (Prodigy is rumored to be one of them) and Senator Exon have gotten together to revamp the bill. Unfortunately they failed to remove the part that infringed on free speech. The bill still criminalizes speech protected by the First Amendment, creating a double standard. The bill would cause speech that is currently protected in print media, to suddenly become criminal when communicated electronically. Civil liberties advocates, who have opposed the bill thus far, continue to be unhappy with the bill. May 24, 1995: House Telecomm Reform bill passes out of committee The Telecommunications Reform bill left committee for the full house by a vote of 39-5. May 22, 1995: New York Times Op-Ed condemns Exon/Gorton bill David S. Bennahum, author of "Coming of Age in Cyberspace", pens an op-ed piece that condemns the Exon/Gorton censorship bill as being ineffective to solve the problems of pedophiles and objectionable materials online. May 19, 1995: Petition to help Leahy stop Exon censorship bill Several members of the Coalition to stop the CDA announce a petition to help Sen. Leahy stop the Exon censorship bill. May 18, 1995: Howard Rheingold writes on Internet Censorship Howard Rheingold's column, Tomorrow (in newspaper syndication courtesy King Features) are an entertaining read. Howard owns the copyright, so please check with him before distributing. May 17, 1995: Christian Coalition supports restrictions on the Internet The Christian Coalition releases their Contract with the American Family which includes a section advocating restrictions on the Internet similar to propositions in the Exon bill. May 5, 1995: Sen. Exon and EPIC staffer Marc Rotenberg on National Public Radio Senator Exon, original sponsor and proponent of the misguided Exon bill goes head to head with Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center about the constitutionality of Exon's bill. May 3, 1995: The Dept. of Justice condemns the CDA In a May 3rd letter to Senator Leahy, the DOJ (Department of Justice) analyzes the CDA and finds that it reduces citizen privacy, would "cripple obscenity prosecutions", and hampers the ability of the government to perform wiretaps. Support for Leahy's alternative bill is implicit. May 3, 1995: The American Family Association condemns the CDA The AFA (American Family Association) weighs in against the Exon/Gorton bill in an April 4th letter to Senator Exon. April 26, 1995: The AFA opposes the CDA in a letter to Sen. Pressler The AFA asks Senator Pressler, who is spearheading the Telecomm Reform Bill, to oppose the Communication Decency Act. April 17, 1995: An angry letter from a subscriber to AOL A subscriber, unhappy with AOL's weak stand on the Communications Decency Act, disconnects his AOL account. April 13, 1995 (dated Mar 23): The Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transport The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation releases its report on the bill. In particular, look for the language about "wrongful use of telecommunication facilities". It's included here if you don't feel like hunting through the whole document. In particular, note the fact that nowhere does the report bother to mention that speech which is currently allowed both on the radio and in print would be disallowed in electronic media under this amendment. 8. Obscenity and other wrongful uses of telecommunications During consideration of the bill in Executive Session, an amendment was offered to address an increasing number of published reports of inappropriate uses of telecommunications technologies to transmit pornography, engage children in inappropriate adult contact, terrorize computer network users through ``electronic stalking,'' and seize personal information. The amendment, which was adopted by voice vote, modernizes the protections in the 1934 Act against obscene, lewd, indecent, and harassing use of a telephone. These protections are brought into the digital age. The provisions increase the penalties for obscene, harassing, and wrongful utilization of telecommunications facilities; protect privacy; protect families from uninvited cable programming which is unsuitable for children; and give cable operators authority to refuse to transmit programs or portions of programs on public or leased access channels which contain obscenity, indecency, or nudity. The measure specifically excludes from liability telecommunications and information service providers and system operators who are not themselves knowing participants in the making or otherwise responsible for the content of the prohibited communications. April 13, 1995: The Feminists for Free Expression oppose the CDA The Feminists for Free Expression send a letter to Sen. Pressler opposing the bill and urging him to oppose it as well. April 9, 1995: The Dallas Morning News tdmned@pic.net runs a point/counterpoint on the CDA Sen. Exon (D-NE) and M. Harrington face off on the constitutionality of the Exon's Communications Decency Act. April 8, 1995: The Economist calls the Communications Decency Act "a bad idea" The Economist (p.16) printed an article criticizing the CDA as "a bad idea, even if pornographers love the Internet". Highlights of the article include: [..] simply banning the "transmission" of indecent material, as the Senate bill proposes, is [..] a bad idea. By treating as identical widely different classes of information and exchange [email, netnews, and the web], it encroaches too far on freedom. April 7, 1995: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduces alternative legislation (S.714) to Exon's CDA Today Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced a bill many see as an alternative to the Communications Decency Act. Viewed as one of the net- friendliest legislators around, Sen. Leahy's bill (which was co-sponsored by both Sen. Bob Kerry (D-NE) and Herb Kohl (D-WI)) is viewed as a sensible alternative to the Exon/Gorton legislation. April 4, 1995: Morality in Media opposes Exon provisions The Morality in Media group announces their opposition to the Exon Decency provisions. April 3, 1995: The House sponsor, Tim Johnson (D-SD) advocates a "go slow" approach The *House sponsor* of Exon's Communications Decency Act sent a letter to Rep. Jack Fields (R-TX) advocating a "go-slow" approach on the bill. To quote: I want to advise you that I have sponsored HR 1004 simply as a beginning point for hearings and discussion and not necessarily to propose that this bill, or any bill for that matter, is necessarily the proper response to concerns over obscenity. April 1, 1995: QuickConnect User Group Connection, a user group coordinator, re-published our alert in their April newsletter. This was a great benefit, and much appreciated. April 1, 1995: Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph Op-Ed piece against the Decency Act March 30, 1995: Sen. Leahy states strong opposition to the bill on the Senate floor Sen. Leahy urges the Senate to reconsider the bill, and asks that First Amendment-friendly alternatives be examined. March 29, 1995: ACLU letter to providers The ACLU urges service providers to publicly oppose the bill. March 28, 1995: Fairfax County Journal A Question & Answer column that included a blurb about the bill, including a well-worded opposition to it. March 27, 1995: Internet Business Association An alert from the Internet Business Association opposing the bill March 25, 1995: EFF Analysis of the revised bill The Electronic Frontier foundation analyzes the revised Exon Decency bill and still finds it lacking. March 24, 1995: New York Times A cover story from the New York Times about the Exon bill. March 24, 1995: In and Around Online An article in an e-zine, "In and Around Online" March 24, 1995: Washington Post, White House comment The White House abhors pornography, but urges a go-slow approach on the Decency Act. March 23, 1995: CDT's analysis of the revised bill The Center for Democracy and Technology issues an analysis of the revised version of the Exon Decency bill. March 23, 1995: Senate Commerce committee goes with the bill The Senate Commerce committee votes unanimously to amend the Telecommunications Reform bill with the Exon Decency Act. The Exon bill has had some protections for service providers added to it, but it does not address the major objections of the community of privacy, preservation of the First Amendment, and reliance on existing statutes. March 22, 1995: Presentation of the net petition opposing the Exon bill to Senator Pressler. The presentation of the Hands Off! the Net petition containing over 100,000 signatories to Senator Pressler. March 22, 1995: Letter from the major computing organizations to Sen. Exon opposing the Exon bill A letter from the major computing organizations to Senator Exon opposing the Exon bill. The associations include: American Association for Artificial Intelligence, Association for Computing Machinery, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, IEEE Computer Society, and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. March 16, 1995: Letter from Senator Leahy to the New Media Coalition and CDT Senator Leahy sends a letter to the Center for Democracy and Technology's New Media Coalition to explore alternatives to the Exon Decency bill. March 15, 1995: Cleveland Plain-Dealer An editorial from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer opposing the Exon bill. March 13, 1995: CNN transcript of a debate between Sen. Exon and EPIC staffer Marc Rotenberg A debate between Senator Exon and Electronic Privacy Information Center staffer Marc Rotenberg. Enlightening. March 10, 1995: AP story on the Exon bill An AP the Exon bill by Elizabeth Weise. March 10, 1995: Another AP story on the Exon bill Another AP story on the Exon bill by Elizabeth Weise. March 10, 1995: South-Shore Skeptic Newsletter An editorial opposing the bill from the South Shore Skeptic Newsletter. March 5, 1995: Wyoming Star-Tribune An editorial from the Wyoming Star-Tribune opposing the Exon bill. March 2, 1995: Letter from the New Media Coalition and CDT to Senators The Center for Democracy and Technology's New Media Coalition sends a letter to Senators Exon and Pressler to remove the Exon Decency bill from the fast track. February 28, 1995: EFF's analysis of the original Exon bill The Electronic Frontier Foundation's analysis of the original version of the Exon Decency bill. February 23, 1995: ACLU's analysis of the Exon bill The American Civil Liberties Union analysis of the original version of the Exon Decency bill. February 15, 1995: Lance Rose's suggestions for the original Exon bill Lance Rose's suggestions on how the original version of the Exon Decency bill might be improved to be a "win" for online systems operators. February 9, 1995: CDT's analysis of the original Exon bill The Center for Democracy and Technology's analysis of the original version of the Exon Decency bill. February 7, 1995: EMA's analysis of the original Exon bill The Electronic Messaging Association's analysis of the original version of the Exon Decency bill. Voters Telecommunications Watch / vtw@vtw.org