========================================================================= ________________ _______________ _______________ /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||||||||||||||| / //////////////// \\\\\________/\ |||||________\ / /////______\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\/____ |||||||||||||| / ///////////// \\\\\___________/\ ||||| / //// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||| \//// ========================================================================= EFFector Online Volume 08 No. 09 June 13, 1995 editors@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 IN THIS ISSUE: ALERT: Exon Bill - Only a Few Hours Left in Senate; Please Act! The Latest News What You Can Do Now -- U.S. and non-U.S. citizens Senate Contact List For More Information List Of Participating Organizations Newsbytes Feinstein/Lott Amendment to S.652 Requires Manadatory Cable Scrambling Sen. Robb Calls for Study Too, but Also Calls for "Tags" System Calendar of Events Quote of the Day What YOU Can Do Administrivia * See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: ALERT: Exon Bill - Only a Few Hours Left in Senate; Please Act! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As of the lastest news: The Exon bill will be considered by the full Senate very shortly - within a couple of hours at most. Things do not look good. This is the absolute last chance to make your calls to your Senator about this legislation. To make matters worse, Exon and Grassley, co-sponsor of Dole's even worse Internet censorship bill, have combined forces to introduce yet another censor-the-Net proposal. Details are unknown at this time. Seriously, everyone, it's do or die time. ________________________________________________________________________ CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE EXON/GORTON COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT (SEE THE LIST OF CAMPAIGN COALITION MEMBERS AT THE END) Update: -Senate debate scheduled tomorrow, vote expected Tuesday -What You Can Do Now (US and non-US citizens) (This only takes two minutes. You can spare two minutes, can't you?) CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT June 11, 1995 PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL June 25, 1995 REPRODUCE THIS ALERT ONLY IN RELEVANT FORUMS Distributed by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org) ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS The Latest News What You Can Do Now -- U.S. and non-U.S. citizens Senate Contact List For More Information List Of Participating Organizations ________________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST NEWS We've seen some great responses from several people who called their Senators. At one office, the receptionist figured out what the big surge in phone calls was about (amazing powers of abstraction!) and finished one caller's sentence for him. Another person who wrote us said he appreciated the list of Technology staffers, as it turns out he actually knew one of them already! In all seriousness, we're not out of the woods yet. We've seen some encouraging signs, but we're still on the dark side of this issue. There are more Senators with bills before Congress to censor the Internet than there are co-sponsors of Leahy's bill. This should worry you. Friday morning you may wake up and discover that the Senate has passed a law against "indecent, filthy, lewd, and lascivious" expression on online systems. You will suddenly realize that even discussions of movies that might fit the above categories (such as R rated films) are now subject to criminal prosecution. Things you would normally find in bookstores and in print will never become available online. Discussions about them will become a strange dance of schizophrenia. Imagine trying to discuss a book that everyone has read while trying to talk around a part that's illegal to discuss online. Consider that even Andrea Dworkin's treatises against pornography could not even be discussed because they contain arguments and descriptions of why pornography is wrong within the book itself. We have before us some very clear choices; they have been created for us (and in some cases by us) by the last few years of the "mainstreaming of the Internet". We can simply oppose the bills that censor electronic expression. This will result in us being viewed as "out of touch" and "radicals" by the Senate. They have been indoctrinated with two years of the press telling them that the Internet is a big red light district. They have been given their "mission" by the nation's voice, the press, and they're now responding to it. They'll pass an Internet bill alright, so they can go to their constituents and say "Look what I did! I helped clean up the Internet." In the end, we'll lose this fight. People who simply oppose popularly-perceived issues are labeled as "shrill" and ignored. Or, we can support Leahy's bill (S 714) that would direct the Department of Justice to do a study of whether or not such legislation is even needed. This is the hearing that the Exon bill never got. This is a chance to drag these bills that are clearly unconstitutional into the light of day and wither them with all the First Amendment sunlight we can get into a Senate hearing room. Most importantly, this buys us time. If we don't support Leahy, we'll get the Exon bill. It's too hard for legislators today to stand up and say they support the First Amendment over "decency". But wait! "The Exon bill is unconstitutional", you say. "It can't pass!" I point out that if it's so obvious that it's unconstitutional, why are all these Senators jumping on the bandwagon to support similar measures? But wait! "The Supreme Court will nullify it", you say. Perhaps. Odds are even pretty good. But what will happen in the seven years it takes to find a martyr to take their case to the Supreme Court? How many bulletin boards will be seized? How many people will take on a new habit of "not communicating", in a medium which has fostered more many-to-many communication than has ever been seen before? You can make the difference. You can call your Senator first thing Monday morning and tell he or she that you think this issue ought to get a good long look before anything is legislated. There's not likely to be a vote in the Senate before Monday 5pm, so you have the whole day to call. [EFF Note: That was then, this is now. Please don't delay even 1 minute before phoning or faxing your Senators after reading this. There is no more time left.] The Telecomm Reform bill is on the floor right now. Senators are debating restrictions on your speech right now. Shouldn't you pipe up, while you still can? ________________________________________________________________________ WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW -- U.S. and non-U.S. citizens The Telecomm Reform Bill currently includes the Exon/Gorton Internet Censorship bill. Leahy intends to offer a swap, to remove the Exon language in exchange for his bill which advocates a study of the issue, with an emphasis on the preservation of the First Amendment and parental control. It is essential that the Leahy language be substituted for Exon's, and therefore it is essential: 1. That all citizens call or fax their Senators as soon as possible. There is no time for written letters and email is too easily discounted or ignored. Non-U.S. citizens should contact Vice President Gore. Note, if you decide to send a fax, you'll want to write an expanded version of the statement below. It's very important that you always be cool, collected, and polite. U.S. citizens: "Hello, Senator ________'s office" "Hi, I'm a constituent and would like to register my opinion on the Telecommunications Reform bill to the Senator. May I please speak to the technology staffer, _________?" "Hold On please. Alright, go ahead." "Please oppose the Exon/Gorton bill (Title 4 of the Telecomm bill) and other bills for censoring the Internet. Please support the Leahy alternative (S714) which examines these issues. My name and address are ________." "Thanks for calling." Non-U.S. citizens: "Dear Vice President Gore, The world looks to the United States as one of the leaders in developing a Global Information Infrastructure. Title 4 of the Telecomm Reform bill and other Internet censorship bills imperil that leadership. Please work to remove them from the Telecomm Reform bill (S652) and support Senator Leahy's sensible alternative (S714). I'm calling from ____________." 2. Send VTW a note telling us what you did. If you contacted your two Senators, send a letter to vtw@vtw.org with a subject line of "XX ack" where "XX" is your state. For example: To: vtw@vtw.org Subject: OH ack I called my Ohio Senators and expressed my opinion. If you contact Senators outside your state, please let us know what state you're from. Also, if your exchange with the Senate staff was anything but droll and boring, please let us know. For example: My Senator's receptionist said he's gone out for the day, to try and find a copy of the First Amendment. He thinks it's a seditious idea and wants to know who started it. If you contacted Vice President Gore, send a letter to vtw@vtw.org with a subject line of "gore ack". For example: To: vtw@vtw.org Subject: gore ack I called VP Gore and expressed my opinion. I'm from France. An automatic responder will return an updated contact tally. 3. Forward this alert to relevant forums on other online services and BBS's. Check the letter you get back to see which Senators are underrepresented by citizen contacts. Forward the alert to any friends and colleagues in those states. 4. If you haven't yet signed the petition to support Sen. Leahy, do so now at http://www.cdt.org/petition.html. If you don't have WWW access, send mail to vtw@vtw.org with a subject line of "send petition" for directions. 5. Congratulate yourself! Your two-minute activism joins that of many thousands of others over the past two months. ________________________________________________________________________ SENATE CONTACT LIST Vice President Gore can be reached at: White House comment line Telephone: (202) 456-1111 (M-F 9-5 EST) Facsimile: (202) 456-2461 (M-F 9-5 EST) Email: vice-president@whitehouse.gov *** Note that we have included names of the several Senators *** *** Telecommunications Policy staffers below. Please attempt *** *** to speak to them when you call. *** US Senate Listing: D ST Name (Party) Phone Fax = == ============ ===== === R AK Murkowski, Frank H. 1-202-224-6665 1-202-224-5301 R AK Stevens, Ted 1-202-224-3004 1-202-224-1044 Earl Comstock - Technology staffer D AL Heflin, Howell T. 1-202-224-4124 1-202-224-3149 R AL Shelby, Richard C. 1-202-224-5744 1-202-224-3416 D AR Bumpers, Dale 1-202-224-4843 1-202-224-6435 Thomas Walls - Technology staffer D AR Pryor, David 1-202-224-2353 1-202-224-8261 R AZ Kyl, Jon 1-202-224-4521 1-602-840-4848 R AZ McCain, John 1-202-224-2235 1-602-952-8702 Mark Buse - Technology staffer D CA Boxer, Barbara 1-202-224-3553 na Leanne Shimabukuro - Technology staffer D CA Feinstein, Dianne 1-202-224-3841 1-202-228-3954 Robert Mestman - Technology staffer R CO Campbell, Ben N. 1-202-224-5852 1-202-225-0228 Lori Fox - Technology staffer R CO Brown, Henry 1-202-224-5941 1-202-224-6471 Liz Woodard - Technology staffer D CT Dodd, Christopher J. 1-202-224-2823 na D CT Lieberman, Joseph I. 1-202-224-4041 1-202-224-9750 D DE Biden Jr., Joseph R. 1-202-224-5042 1-202-224-0139 Demetra Lambros/Michelle Deguerin - Technology staffer R DE Roth Jr. William V. 1-202-224-2441 1-202-224-2805 D FL Graham, Robert 1-202-224-3041 1-202-224-2237 Bryant Hall - Technology staffer R FL Mack, Connie 1-202-224-5274 1-202-224-8022 Stacy Hughes - Technology staffer D GA Nunn, Samuel 1-202-224-3521 1-202-224-0072 Jonathan Reif - Technology staffer R GA Coverdell, Paul 1-202-224-3643 1-202-228-3783 Therese Marie Delgadillo - Technology staffer D HI Akaka, Daniel K. 1-202-224-6361 1-202-224-2126 Nanci Langley - Technology staffer D HI Inouye, Daniel K. 1-202-224-3934 1-202-224-6747 Margaret Cummisky - Technology staffer D IA Harkin, Thomas 1-202-224-3254 1-202-224-7431 Phil Buchan - Technology staffer R IA Grassley, Charles E. 1-202-224-3744 1-202-224-6020 John McNickle - Technology staffer R ID Craig, Larry E. 1-202-224-2752 1-202-224-2573 Elizabeth Criner - Technology staffer R ID Kempthorne, Dirk 1-202-224-6142 1-202-224-5893 D IL Moseley-Braun, Carol 1-202-224-2854 1-202-224-2626 Bill Mattea - Technology staffer D IL Simon, Paul 1-202-224-2152 1-202-224-0868 Susan Kaplan - Technology staffer R IN Coats, Daniel R. 1-202-224-5623 1-202-224-8964 David Crane - Technology staffer R IN Lugar, Richard G. 1-202-224-4814 1-202-224-7877 Walt Luken - Technology staffer R KS Dole, Robert 1-202-224-6521 1-202-224-8952 R KS Kassebaum, Nancy L. 1-202-224-4774 1-202-224-3514 Ed Bolen - Technology staffer D KY Ford, Wendell H. 1-202-224-4343 1-202-224-0046 Martha Maloney - Technology staffer R KY McConnell, Mitch 1-202-224-2541 1-202-224-2499 D LA Breaux, John B. 1-202-224-4623 na Thomas Moore - Technology staffer D LA Johnston, J. Bennett 1-202-224-5824 1-202-224-2952 Michael Gougisha - Technology staffer D MA Kennedy, Edward M. 1-202-224-4543 1-202-224-2417 Jeff Blattner - Technology staffer D MA Kerry, John F. 1-202-224-2742 1-202-224-8525 Scott Bunton - Technology staffer D MD Mikulski, Barbara A. 1-202-224-4654 1-202-224-8858 D MD Sarbanes, Paul S. 1-202-224-4524 1-202-224-1651 Fred Millhiser - Technology staffer R ME Snowe, Olympia 1-202-224-5344 1-202-224-6853 Angela Campbell - Technology staffer R ME Cohen, William S. 1-202-224-2523 1-202-224-2693 Kelly Metcalf - Technology staffer D MI Levin, Carl 1-202-224-6221 na R MI Abraham, Spencer 1-202-224-4822 1-202-224-8834 D MN Wellstone, Paul 1-202-224-5641 1-202-224-8438 Mike Epstein - Technology staffer R MN Grams, Rod 1-202-224-3244 na R MO Bond, Christopher S. 1-202-224-5721 1-202-224-8149 R MO Ashcroft, John 1-202-224-6154 na R MS Cochran, Thad 1-202-224-5054 1-202-224-3576 R MS Lott, Trent 1-202-224-6253 1-202-224-2262 Chip Pickering - Technology staffer D MT Baucus, Max 1-202-224-2651 na Brian Cavey - Technology staffer R MT Burns, Conrad R. 1-202-224-2644 1-202-224-8594 Mark Baker - Technology staffer R NC Faircloth, D. M. 1-202-224-3154 1-202-224-7406 R NC Helms, Jesse 1-202-224-6342 1-202-224-7588 D ND Conrad, Kent 1-202-224-2043 1-202-224-7776 Steve Super - Technology staffer D ND Dorgan, Byron L. 1-202-224-2551 1-202-224-1193 Greg Rhode - Technology staffer D NE Exon, J. J. 1-202-224-4224 1-202-224-5213 Christopher MacLean - Technology staffer D NE Kerrey, Bob 1-202-224-6551 1-202-224-7645 Carol Ann Bischoff - Technology staffer R NH Gregg, Judd 1-202-224-3324 1-202-224-4952 R NH Smith, Robert 1-202-224-2841 1-202-224-1353 D NJ Bradley, William 1-202-224-3224 1-202-224-8567 Mark Schmitt - Technology staffer D NJ Lautenberg, Frank R. 1-202-224-4744 1-202-224-9707 Bruce King - Technology staffer D NM Bingaman, Jeff 1-202-224-5521 na Wayne Propst - Technology staffer R NM Domenici, Pete V. 1-202-224-6621 1-202-224-7371 D NV Bryan, Richard H. 1-202-224-6244 1-202-224-1867 Andrew Vermilye - Technology staffer D NV Reid, Harry 1-202-224-3542 1-202-224-7327 D NY Moynihan, Daniel P. 1-202-224-4451 na R NY D'Amato, Alfonse M. 1-202-224-6542 1-202-224-5871 Kraig Siracuse - Technology staffer D OH Glenn, John 1-202-224-3353 1-202-224-7983 Kathy Connolly - Technology staffer R OH Dewine, Michael 1-202-224-2315 1-202-224-6519 Josh Ruben - Technology staffer R OK Inhofe, James 1-202-224-4721 R OK Nickles, Donald 1-202-224-5754 1-202-224-6008 R OR Hatfield, Mark O. 1-202-224-3753 1-202-224-0276 R OR Packwood, Robert 1-202-224-5244 1-202-228-3576 Hans Haney - Technology staffer R PA Santorum, Rick 1-202-224-6324 1-202-228-4991 R PA Specter, Arlen 1-202-224-4254 1-717-782-4920 Dan Renberg - Technology staffer D RI Pell, Claiborne 1-202-224-4642 1-202-224-4680 R RI Chafee, John H. 1-202-224-2921 na D SC Hollings, Ernest F. 1-202-224-6121 1-202-224-4293 Kevin Josephs - Technology staffer R SC Thurmond, Strom 1-202-224-5972 1-202-224-1300 D SD Daschle, Thomas A. 1-202-224-2321 1-202-224-2047 R SD Pressler, Larry 1-202-224-5842 1-202-224-1259* Katie King - Technology staffer R TN Thompson, Fred 1-202-224-4944 1-202-228-3679 Kevin Moxley - Technology staffer R TN Frist, Bill 1-202-224-3344 1-202-224-8062 Dave Berson - Technology staffer R TX Hutchison, Kay Bailey 1-202-224-5922 1-202-224-0776 Amy Henderson - Technology staffer R TX Gramm, Phil 1-202-224-2934 1-202-228-2856 R UT Bennett, Robert 1-202-224-5444 1-202-224-6717 Amy Henderson - Technology staffer R UT Hatch, Orrin G. 1-202-224-5251 1-202-224-6331 Mike O'Neill - Technology staffer D VA Robb, Charles S. 1-202-224-4024 1-202-224-8689 Bill Owens - Technology staffer R VA Warner, John W. 1-202-224-2023 1-202-224-6295 Russel Wilkerson - Technology staffer D VT Leahy, Patrick J. 1-202-224-4242 1-202-224-3595 Beryl Howell - Technology staffer R VT Jeffords, James M. 1-202-224-5141 na Bill Testerman - Technology staffer D WA Murray, Patty 1-202-224-2621 1-202-224-0238 Mike Egan - Technology staffer R WA Gorton, Slade 1-202-224-3441 1-202-224-9393 Terri Claffey - Technology staffer D WI Feingold, Russell 1-202-224-5323 na Jeannine Kenney - Technology staffer D WI Kohl, Herbert H. 1-202-224-5653 1-202-224-9787 Jon Liebowitz - Technology staffer D WV Byrd, Robert C. 1-202-224-3954 1-202-224-4025 D WV Rockefeller, John D. 1-202-224-6472 na Cheryl Bruner - Technology staffer R WY Simpson, Alan K. 1-202-224-3424 1-202-224-1315 Michael Stull - Technology staffer R WY Thomas, Craig 1-202-224-6441 1-202-224-3230 ________________________________________________________________________ FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information on the Communications Decency Act, visit the following resources: Web Sites URL:http://www.panix.com/vtw/exon/ URL:http://epic.org/ URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html FTP Archives URL:ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/policy/freespeech/00-INDEX.FREESPEECH URL:ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ Gopher Archives: URL:gopher://gopher.panix.com/11/vtw/exon URL:gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Alerts Email: vtw@vtw.org (put "send help" in the subject line) cda-info@cdt.org (General CDA information) cda-stat@cdt.org (Current status of the CDA) ________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS In order to use the net more effectively, several organizations have joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the Communications Decency Act. American Civil Liberties Union * American Communication Association * American Council for the Arts * Arts & Technology Society * Association of Alternative Newsweeklies * biancaTroll productions * Californians Against Censorship Together * Center For Democracy And Technology * Centre for Democratic Communications * Center for Public Representation * Citizen's Voice - New Zealand * Computer Communicators Association * Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility * Cross Connection * Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer Lounge * Electronic Frontier Canada * Electronic Frontier Foundation * Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin * Electronic Frontiers Australia * Electronic Frontiers Houston * Electronic Frontiers New Hampshire * Electronic Privacy Information Center * Feminists For Free Expression * First Amendment Teach-In * Florida Coalition Against Censorship * Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands Off! The Net * Human Rights Watch * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle Technologies, Inc. * Inst. for Global Communications * The Libertarian Party * Marijuana Policy Project * Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * MindVox * National Bicycle Greenway * National Coalition Against Censorship * National Public Telecomputing Network * National Writers Union * Oregon Coast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet * People for the American Way * Rock Out Censorship * Society for Electronic Access * The Thing International BBS Network * The WELL * Voters Telecommunications Watch (Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities, not EFF chapters or divisions.) ________________________________________________________________________ End Alert ------------------------------ Subject: Newsbytes ------------------ * Feinstein/Lott Amendment to S.652 Requires Manadatory Cable Scrambling Senators Lott and Feinstein introduced an amendment yesterday to the Telecom Reform bill, S.652, requiring manadatory scrambling of audio and video for "adult" cable tv programming. How this will affect other information and entertainment services, such as Internet service providers, BBSs, etc., if at all, is unclear, but the language at first analysis appears to apply to "multi-channel video programming distributors" and should not directly affect online services. The amendment did not affect in any way the Communications Decency (Exon bill) provisions of the Telecom Reform bill, but rather another section. The amendment passed, according to Senate staffers, 91-0. The text of the amendment as it was passed by the Senate and folded into the bill is available at: http://www.eff.org/pub/Legislation/Bills_by_number/ s652_a1269_feinstein_lott.amend ftp.eff.org, /pub/Legislation/Bills_by_number/s652_a1269_feinstein_lott.amend gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Legislation/Bills_by_number, s652_a1269_feinstein_lott.amend * Sen. Robb Calls for Study Too, but Also Calls for "Tags" System Amendment 1271 to Senate Telecom Reform bill was proposed yesterday by Sen. Charles Robb (D-VA). This amendment was tabled June 12, 1995. A "Sense of Congress" resolution to "encourage the voluntary use of tags" or identifying marks or names for online materials that are sexually explicit. Like other tagging and rating schemes, this idea has a number of serious flaws. Unlike other proposed systems, the Robb amendment calls for a centralized industry board to oversee labelling and implementation of software to block access to labelled material, and requires the Secretary of Commerce to publicize the tags. The scheme would be voluntary under this version of the Robb amendment. Calls for a study one year down the road regarding the tags' proliferation and effectiveness. Some good points, some bad points. Mostly bad. Yet another attempt to centralize the uncentralizable, ignores the global nature of the net, and calls for a single rating system, the almost guaranteed failure of which will likely be the basis for yet more Internet censorship legislation a year from now. The tabled resolution curiously labels the Internet and BBSs "public information networks". However, like Sen. Leahy, Robb calls for a study, and reconsideration, rather than deciding like Exon, et al., that he's right and that's that. When and if the amendment will be reconsidered is unknown to us at present. The text of the amendment as it was tabled by the Senate is available at: http://www.eff.org/pub/Legislation/Bills_by_number/ s652_a1271_robb_tabled.amend ftp.eff.org, /pub/Legislation/Bills_by_number/s652_a1271_robb_tabled.amend gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Legislation/Bills_by_number, s652_a1271_robb_tabled.amend ------------------------------ Subject: Calendar of Events --------------------------- This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to our members. EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker) are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date. Simlarly, government events, such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission, are marked with "!" in place of the "-" after the date. If you know of an event of some sort that should be listed here, please send info about it to Stanton McCandlish (mech@eff.org) The latest full version of this calendar, which includes material for later in the year as well as the next couple of months, is available from: ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff Updated: Jun. 13, 1995 1995 ---- June 13- 15 - IDT 95 - 12th Congress on Information Markets and Industries; Paris, France. Organized by ADBS (a society of information professionals), ANRT (National Association of Technological Research), and GFII (French association of information industries). Contact: +33 1 43 72 25 25 (voice), +33 1 43 72 30 41 (fax) June 17- 19 - NECC'95: Emerging Technologies and Lifelong Learning: 16th Annual National Educational Computing Conf., sponsored by International Society for Technology in Education; Baltimore, Maryland. VP Gore and Sec'y. of Labor Robert Reich invited as keynote speakers. Other speakers include: John Phillipo (CELT), Frank Knott (MGITB) Contact: +1 503 346 2834 (voice), +1 503 346 5890 (fax) Email: necc95@ccmail.uoregon.edu June 18- 21 - ED-MEDIA'95; Graz, Austria. A world conference on educational multimedia and hypermedia. Sponsor: The Association for the Advancement of Computing. Contact: +1 804 973 3987 (voice) Email: aace@virginia.edu. June 24- 28 - Workshop on Ethical & Professional Issues in Computing; Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY. Deadline for submissions: Apr. 15. Contact: +1 518 276 8503 (voice), +1 518 276 2659 (fax) Email: cherkt@rpi.edu June 27- 29 - Women in Technology Conference: Channels for Change; Santa Clara Conv. Ctr., Santa Clara, Calif. Speakers include: Gloria Steinem. Sponsored by Int'l. Network of Women in Technology (WITI). Contact: +1 818 990 1987 (voice), +1 818 906 3299 (fax) Email: witi@crl.com June 28- 30 - INET '95 Internet Society 5th Ann. International Networking Conf.; Honolulu, Hawaii. Sponsored by Internet Society (ISoc). See Jan. 13 for proposal deadline Contact: +1 703 648 9888 (voice) FTP: ftp.isoc.org, /isoc/inet95/ Gopher: gopher.isoc.org, 1/isoc/inet95 WWW: http://www.isoc.org/inet95.html Email: inet95@isoc.org July 5- 7 - Key Players in the Introduction of Information Technology: Their Social Responsibility & Professional Training; Namur, Belgium. Sponsored by CREIS. Email: nolod@ccr.jussieu.fr, clobet@info.fundp.ac.be July 5- 8 - Alliance for Community Media International Conference and Trade Show. [See Jan. 31 for proposal submission deadline info]. Contact: Alliance c/o MATV, 145 Pleasant St., Malden, MA 02148 Fax: (617) 321-7121; Voice: Rika Welsh (617) 321-6400 Email: matv@world.std.com July 5- 8 - 18th International Conf. on Research & Development in Information Retrieval; Sheraton Hotel, Seattle, Wash. Email: sigir95@u.washington.edu July 6- 7 ! Interoperability & the Economics of Information Infrastructure; Freedom Forum, Rosslyn, Virginia. IITF/NSF/Harvard/FFMSC joint workshop to "analyze and evaluate economic incentives and impediments to achieving interoperability in the National Information Infrastructure. The goal is to help agencies, associations, the Administration, and the Congress to develop sound policies for realizing the vision of a seamless, interoperating NII. Deadline for proposals: Mar. 17. Deadline for submissions: June 15. Contact: +1 617 495 8903 (voice), +1 617 495 5776 (fax) Email: kahin@harvard.edu July 11- 15 - '95 Joint International Conference: Association for Computers and the Humanties, and Association for Literacy and Linguistic Computing; UCSB, Santa Barbara, Calif. Will highlight the development of new computing methodologies for research and teaching in the humanities Contact: Eric Dahlin, +1 805 687 5003 (voice) Email: hcf1dahl@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu July 22- 26 - Syllabus'95; Sonoma State U., Rohnert Park, Calif. "The premier conference covering the use of technology in the curriculum" Contact: 1-800-773-0670 (voice, US-only), +1 408 746 200 (voice, elsewhere) Email: syllabus@netcom.com ------------------------------ Subject: Quote of the Day ------------------------- "There are already laws prohibiting the promotion of hatred and we are now considering new laws to establish limits on the use of the Internet and other forms of communication in a way that might be harmful to us all." - Allan Rock, Canadian Minister of Justice, in response to a question regaring whether or not students should be censored from "unwanted exposure" to "extremist movements promoting anti-social behaviour" online. From a virtual conference hosted by Canada's SchoolNet MOO forum, May 1995. The second meaning one can infer ("...limits... harmful to us all") is really a delicious bit of double entendre. 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 protect us from ourselves that our government representatives may deprive us of our essential civil liberties? 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. ------------------------------ Subject: What YOU Can Do ------------------------ * The Exon Bill (Communications Decency Act) The Communications Decency Act poses 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 Senators and ask them to support the replacement of Exon's communications decency language in the Senate telecom reform bill s.652 with S. 714, Sen. Leahy's alternative to the Comm. Decency Act. Explain quickly, clearly and politely, why you feel the Exon language is dangerous. S.652, the Senate telecom deregulation bill, now contains Sen. Exon's "Communications Decency Act" (formerly S.314.) The House version of the CDA, H.R.1004, is essentially stalled. The House telecom reform bill will almost certainly include the Leahy language, a fact that may be worth mentioning to your Senators. For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other dangerous legislation, see: ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ If you do not have full internet access, send your request for information to ask@eff.org. * Find Out Who Your Congresspersons Are 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. These lists are available at: ftp.eff.org, /pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/ gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes http://www.eff.org/pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/ 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 do not know who your Representatives are, you should contact you local League of Women Voters, who typically maintain databases that can help you find out. * Join EFF! 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. ------------------------------ Administrivia ============= EFFector Online is published by: 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) +1 202 861 1223 (BBS - 16.8k ZyXEL) +1 202 861 1224 (BBS - 14.4k V.32bis) 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. 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