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  **         **      **       ***               POLICY POST  
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  **         **      **       ***               March 23, 1995
  **         **      **       ***               Number 5
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  CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
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  A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
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CDT POLICY POST 3/23/95                                      Number 5

CONTENTS: (1) Exon Indecency Bill Approved by Sen. Commerce Committee
          (3) About the Center For Democracy and Technology

This document may be re-distributed freely providing it remains in its 
entirety.

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EXON INDECENCY BILL APPROVED BY SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE

The Senate Commerce Committee voted unanimously today to adopt S. 314, 
Senator Exon's "Communications Decency Act", as an amendment to the 
Senate telecommunications reform legislation. The amendment was 
introduced by Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) on behalf of himself an Exon (D-
NE). It received no significant debate and was unanimously approved on a 
voice vote.

The bill was amended from its original form to limit liability for 
telecommunications carriers and online service providers, but users  and 
content providers would still be criminally liable for any communications 
that are deemed "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent".   An analysis 
of these provisions by CDT, as well as the full text of the bill will be posted 
later today.

On initial analysis, CDT still believes that the bill is an unconstitutional 
violation of the free speech and privacy rights of network users and content 
providers. 

Although the Commerce Committee did vote to send the 
Telecommunications reform legislation to the Senate floor, there are still 
serious disputes about the entire package. Because of this, there are still many 
opportunities to remove the "Indecency Provision" as the bill moves to the 
floor.

Stay tuned for further analysis and additional information from CDT.

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ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY

The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
organization. The Center's mission is to develop and advocate public
policies that advance constitutional civil liberties and democratic 
values in new computer and communications technologies. 

Contacting us:

General information on CDT can be obtained by sending mail to 
info@cdt.org

www/ftp/gopher archives are currently under construction, and should be 
up and running by the end of March. 

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