========================================================================= ________________ _______________ _______________ /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||||||||||||||| / //////////////// \\\\\________/\ |||||________\ / /////______\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\/____ |||||||||||||| / ///////////// \\\\\___________/\ ||||| / //// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||| \//// ========================================================================= EFFector Online Volume 09 No. 08 June 12 1996 editors@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 IN THIS ISSUE: Federal Court Rules Communications Decency Act Unconstitutional NewsNybbles Security and Freedom through Encryption (SAFE) Forum, July 1 (Stanford) Upcoming 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: Federal Court Rules Communications Decency Act Unconstitutional ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Groups challenging the law prepare for government appeal to the Supreme Court Electronic Frontier Foundation PRESS RELEASE Contacts: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, +1 415 436 9333 Mike Godwin, Staff Counsel, +1 510 548 3290 Shari Steele, Staff Counsel, +1 301 375 8856 Philadelphia -- "Just as the strength of the Internet is chaos, so the strength of our liberty depends upon the chaos and cacophony of the unfettered speech the First Amendment protects." With these ringing words, a Philadelphia federal court has struck down a law today that would have criminalized constitutionally protected speech on the Internet and other online forums. In what civil libertarians are hailing as a victory for everyone who uses computer communications, a three-judge panel in Philadelphia's federal court ruled in a unanimous decision that the controversial "Communications Decency Act" (CDA) violates the U.S. constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press. "First of all, we are pleased to see the court vindicate our vision of the Net as a medium protected by the First Amendment," said Lori Fena, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a watchdog group established to protect civil liberties, and promote responsibility, in computer communications. "Secondly, we are delighted that the court has gone beyond striking down the law, and has stated positively what constitutional principles must govern any attempt to regulate the most democratic mass medium the world has ever seen." Said EFF Chairman Esther Dyson: "This is a day for individual citizens, for families, and for public and private organizations online to celebrate." "The judges recognized that CDA was a wholly inappropriate exercise of governmental power under the Constitution," said Mike Godwin, EFF staff counsel. "The law would have abridged one of the freedoms that Americans treasure most, and a freedom that is central to any democratic society," he said. Godwin applauded the members of the coalition that challenged the law in federal court. "We and the other plaintiffs persuaded them that the government cannot constitutionally impose this sort of overreaching, and duplicative regulation of content in the online world," Godwin said. Dyson stated that the decision stands for one of EFF's principal positions regarding free speech online: "We believe in free speech at the source -- and in the empowerment of any audience for that speech to control what they see. "This decision takes the responsibility for controlling and accessing speech on the Net out of the hands of government and puts it back in the hands of parents and other individuals where it belongs," she said. "Individuals already have the technical means to make their own choices about what they and their children read and see," Dyson said. Godwin noted that existing anti-obscenity laws, together with low-cost technological solutions, offer a more efficient, less intrusive answer to questions about protecting children in the online world. "The government kept saying that this was a crisis that required harsher censorship in the online world than in any other communications medium," Godwin said. "In fact, we showed that it's possible to promote both freedom of speech and family values -- that the two goals don't oppose each other." While the plaintiffs are pleased with the victory, Fena said, "it's no time to be complacent." A collection of poorly drafted state laws has followed in the wake of the passage of the CDA, and the issues these statutes raise must be addressed as well, she said. "What's as compelling as the language of this decision," Godwin said, "is the breadth of the opposition to this legislation," He noted that two large groups of plaintiffs, including EFF, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, People for the American Way, the American Library Association, Microsoft, and Apple Computer, had challenged the recently passed law in Philadelphia's federal court. Even Administration officials have privately and publicly voiced their concerns. The plaintiffs must now prepare for the government's planned appeal to the United States Supreme Court, Godwin said, citing a provision of the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996, which prescribes such a direct appeal when a provision of the telecom act is found unconstitutional in a lower court.. Godwin also commented that "this may be the most rapidly distributed federal court opinion in American history." Sites all over the over the Net would be carrying the full text of the opinion almost as soon as the judges hand it down, he said, noting that the court is providing copies of the opinion on computer diskettes as well as through more traditional means. The constitutional challenge to the Communications Decency Act has been grounded in four basic arguments -- that the law is unconstitutionally overbroad (criminalizing protected speech), that it is unconstitutionally vague (making it difficult for individuals and organizations to comply), that it fails what the judiciary calls the "least restrictive means" test for speech regulation, and that there is no basic constitutional authority under the First Amendment to engage in this type of content regulation in any nonbroadcast medium. "We are confident the Supreme Court will uphold the Philadelphia court's decision," Godwin said. To reach EFF board chairman Esther Dyson or executive director Lori Fena, please contact EFF's main office at +1 415 436 9333. ***************************************************************** The Electronic Frontier Foundation 1550 Bryant St., Suite 725 San Francisco CA 94103 USA +1 415 436 9333 (voice) +1 415 436 9993 (fax) Internet: ask@eff.org ------------------------------ Subject: NewsNybbles -------------------- * Security and Freedom through Encryption (SAFE) Forum, July 1 (Stanford) Security and Freedom Through Encryption Forum July 1, 1996 Stanford, California Making the Case for a Pro-Commerce, Pro-Privacy National Encryption Policy A National Public Education Campaign The Message Current U.S. export controls and other limits on encryption are stifling electronic commerce on the Internet, preventing computer users from protecting their privacy, and handicapping U.S. industry in the global marketplace. Congress must eliminate barriers to electronic commerce by removing these Cold War-era regulations of vital information technology. The Goal Further encourage policy makers to relax export controls, by raising public awareness of encryption's importance to U.S. competitiveness, individual privacy, the economic future of the computer industry, and ultimately jobs in America. The Event The Security and Freedom Through Encryption (SAFE) Forum in Northern California, hosted by Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Tom Campbell (R-CA), with members of Congress, prominent industry leaders, and computer security experts. Logistics Location: Kresge Auditorium at Stanford University, Stanford, California Date: July 1, 1996 Audience: National and local press, California constituents, members of Congress. Published proceedings in book form (MIT Press proposal pending). Simultaneous smaller events will be held by local organizers in cities across the nation. Event will include panel discussions, keynote presentations, and a technology demonstration. Speakers and sponsors still needed - contact Daniel Weitzner or Alan Davidson at the Center for Democracy and Technology, +1 (202) 637-9800. Please register and get a ticket reserved ASAP. There is only room for 500 to attend. To register or get more info, see the event web site at: http://www.crypto.com/safe/ ------------------------------ Upcoming 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, or conferences at which government representatives are speaking) are marked with "!" in place of the "-" ("!?" means a govt. speaker may appear, but we don't know for certain yet.) And likewise, "+" in place of "-" indicates a non-USA event. If it's a foreign EFF event with govt. people, it'll be "*!+" instead of "-". You get the idea. The latest version of the full EFF calendar 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 See also our new Now-Up-to-Date HTML calendar at: http://events.eff.org June 15 - Open discussion of the lack of computer industry philanthropy. $10 dollar donation includes dinner and drinks. ($5-children); 4pm - midnight, Fred and Sylvia's CyberSalon West, 630 San Miguel Way, Berkeley, CA. Contact: +1 510 526 5555 June 16- 20 - Society and the Future of Computing; Snowbird, UT. Email: rxl@lanl.gov URL: http://www.lanl.gov/SFC June 17- 18 - Practicing Law Institute's 16th Annual Institute on Computer Law: Understanding the Business and Legal Aspects of the Internet; San Francisco, CA Contact: +1 800 477 0300 Email: info@pli.edu June 17- 18 * Venture Market Europe - presentation and discussion of private technology company CEOs' international business plans and ideas; London, England. Speakers will include EFF Board of Directors Chairperson, Esther Dyson. Contact: +1 415 865 2277 x210 (voice), +1 415 865 0453 (fax) June 17- 22 - World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, ED-MEDIA 96; Boston, MA. Submission deadline: Oct. 20, 1995. Contact: +1 804 973 3987 Fax: +1 804 978 7449 Email: aace@virginia.edu June 21- 22 - ISTAS 96, International Symposium on Technology and Society; Princeton Univeristy, Princeton, NJ. Abstract submission deadline: Dec. 15, 1995. Email: istas@wws.princeton.edu Fax: +1 609 258 1985 June 21- 22 - "Personal Information - Security, Engineering and Ethics," sponsored by the Britsish Medical Association; Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, MA. Deadline for submissions: May 10. Contact: Dr. Ross Anderson, Isaac Newton Institute, 20 Clarkson Road, Cambridge CB3 0EH, England Email: rja14@newton.cam.ac.uk June 24- 26 + Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy; New South Wales, Australia. Email: jennie@cs.uow.edu.au June 25- 28 + INET 96, The 6th Annual Conference of the Internet Society: "The Internet: Transforming Our Society Now"; Montreal Canada. Deadline for abstracts: Jan. 15. Contact: Carol Gray, International Secretariat 12020 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 210 Reston, VA 22091 Voice: +1 703 648 9888 Fax: +1 703 648 9887 Email: inet96@isoc.org URL: http://www.isoc.org/conferences/inet96 June 26- 28 - MIT seminar, "Converging Networks: Business and the Telecommunications Act of 1996." Email: cnbta@rpcp.mit.edu URL: http://farnsworth.mit.edu/Workshops ------------------------------ Subject: Quote of the Day ------------------------- "We are in danger of getting government by the clueless, over a place they've never been, using means they don't possess" - John Perry Barlow, EFF co-founder, 1995 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 the judicial and legislative processes to stifle satire, dissent and criticism? Join EFF! http://www.eff.org/EFFdocs/join_eff.html (or send any message to info@eff.org). 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. ------------------------------ Subject: What YOU Can Do ------------------------ * The Communications Decency Act & Other Censorship Legislation 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. June 12, 1996 a 3-judge Federal court in Philadelphia ruled the CDA unconstitutional, and enjoined enforcement. Action next moves to the US Supreme Court. But in the mean time, numerous states have passed or are still considering Internet censorship laws, almost all of which are unconstitutional and pose severe legal threats for all Internet access and service providers, as well as content providers, including anyone who uses mailing list forums or newsgroups or who has a web page. Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt. affairs office and/or legal counsel. Everyone should write to their own Representatives and Senators, letting them know that such abuses of public trust will not be tolerated, that legislators who vote against your free speech rights will be voted against by you in the next elections. Join in the Blue Ribbon Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html PARTICIPATE IN BLUE RIBBON ACTIVISM EFFORTS: http://www.eff.org/blueribbon/activism.html Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund: http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce 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 (e.g. WWW), send your request for information to ask@eff.org. IMPORTANT! KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATURE. All kinds of wacky censorious legislation is turning up at the US state and non-US national levels. Don't let it sneak by you - or by the online activism community. Without locals on the look out, it's very difficult for the Net civil liberties community to keep track of what's happening locally as well as globally. * New Crypto-Privacy Legislation Urge your Represenatitives to support the Pro-CODE crypto export bill (and to fix the few remaining bugs in it). For years US export controls on encryption have hampered the development of secure communications online. This technology is vital for online commerce, for national security, and for YOUR electronic privacy. The new Pro-CODE legislation will go a long way to rectifying the situation. Join in the Golden Key Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/goldkey.html PARTICIPATE IN GOLDEN KEY ACTIVISM EFFORTS: http://www.eff.org/goldkey/activism.html Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund: http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce See also: http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ http://www.privacy.org/ipc/ http://www.crypto.com/ for more info. * Digital Telephony/Comms. Assistance to Law Enforcement Act The FBI has been 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. We are aware of no major action on this threat at present, but keep your eyes peeled. It will be back. See http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Surveillance/ for more info. * Anti-Terrorism Bills Several bills threatening your privacy and free speech have been introduced recently. One passed, but none of the rest of them are close to passage at this very moment - however, this status may change. Urge your Congresspersons to oppose these unconstitutional and Big-Brotherish bills, which threaten freedom of association, free press, free speech, and privacy. One such bill passed a few weeks ago, stripped of some of the more onerous provisions. It could have been worse, and could yet still be worse. Keep up the pressure. Write to your legislators: No secret trials and deportations, no expansion of wiretapping scope or authority, no national or "smart-card" ID systems! For more information on some of this legislation, see http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Terrorism_militias/ * The Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act 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 Congress. 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. * Medical Privacy Legislation 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. :) * Child Privacy Legislation A new bill to protect children from unethical marketing practices (e.g. tricking kids into revealing personal information by offering prizes or games) has been introduced. EFF and other civil liberties organizations like, and dislike, various points in this bill. The legislators sponsoring the bill appear interested in resolving the problems in the statutory language they have proposed. More information on this will be provided soon. * 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 to us, so pass it on! If you are having difficulty determining who your US legislators are, try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great deal of legislator information, or consult the free ZIPPER service that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85% accuracy at: http://www.stardot.com/~lukeseem/zip.html Computer Currents Interactive has provided Congress contact info, sorted by who voted for and against the Communcations Decency Act: http://www.currents.net/congress.html * 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 1550 Bryant St., Suite 725 San Francisco CA 94103 USA +1 415 436 9333 (voice) +1 415 436 9993 (fax) Membership & donations: membership@eff.org Legal services: ssteele@eff.org General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, Webmaster (mech@eff.org) This newsletter is 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. To subscribe to EFFector via email, send message body of "subscribe effector-online" (without the "quotes") to listserv@eff.org, which will add you to a subscription list for EFFector. Back issues are available at: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/ gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/ To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or er@eff.org), and it will be mailed to you automagically. You can also get the file "current" from the EFFector directory at the above sites at any time for a copy of the current issue. HTML editions available at: http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/HTML/ at EFFweb. HTML editions of the current issue sometimes take a day or longer to prepare after issue of the ASCII text version. ------------------------------ End of EFFector Online v09 #08 Digest ************************************* $$