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The Center for Democracy and Technology /____/ Volume 4, Number 21
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A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
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CDT POLICY POST Volume 4, Number 21 September 22, 1998
CONTENTS:
(1) Commerce Committee Poised to Vote on "CDA-II"
(2) Take Action and Fight Censorship on the Net
(3) Why the "CDA-II" is Unconstitutional
(4) Background on the Oxley bill ("CDA-II") HR 3783
(5) Subscription Information
(6) About CDT
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_____________________________________________________________________________
(1) Commerce Committee Poised to Vote on "CDA-II"
Members of House Commerce Committee will vote this Thursday on the Oxley
bill (HR 3783), widely known as the "CDA-II" because of its similar
restrictions on speech. Although narrower than the its predecessor in some
respects, the "CDA-II" attempts to impose "harmful to minors" standard on
the Internet that is
unconstitutional and ineffective. This piece of legislation poses a
significant threat to free speech online. A companion bill, S. 1482, was
amendended to the Commerce, State and Justice Appropriations Bill and has
already passed the Senate.
________________________________________________________________________________
(2) TAKE ACTION AND FIGHT CENSORSHIP ON THE NET
A vote on the Oxley bill will influence the future of free speech on the
Internet -- don't let this debate pass without making your voice heard!
Join the CIEC (Citizen's Internet Empowerment Coalition) in calling
Commerce Committee members to urge them to vote against this
unconstitutional and ineffective piece of legislation.
For more information on contacting members of the Commerce Committee, read
CIEC's Action Alert at http://www.cdt.org/speech/copa/980900alert.html.
______________________________________________________________________________
(3) Why the "CDA-II" is Unconstitutional
While narrower than the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, its
predecessor that was struck down by the Supreme Court last year, HR 3783
contains many of the same features that ultimately led to the Court's
ruling that the CDA was unconstitutional. Based on the Supreme Court's CDA
decision in Reno v. ACLU, as well as a long line of cases involving content
regulation in areas such as "dial-a-porn" and cable television, the bill
places unconstitutional burdens on a wide category of protected speech,
while failing to achieve its goal of protecting children.
Major constitutional problems raised by HR 3783 include:
* Imposes serious burdens on constitutionally-protected speech, including
materials such as the recently released Starr report, movies, and
television programs, when disseminated through popular commerical Web sites
such as CNN, Yahoo.com, or MS-NBC.
* Fails to effectively serve the government's interest in protecting
children, since it will not effectively prevent children from seeing
inappropriate material originating from outside of the U.S. available
through other Internet resources besides the World Wide Web, such as chat
rooms or email.
* Does not represent the least restrictive means of regulating speech,
according to the Supreme Court's own findings that blocking and filtering
software might give parents the ability to more effectively screen out
undesirable content without burdening speech. Congress has produced no
detailed record refuting this finding or supporting the notion that HR 3783
is the least restrictive means.
For more detailed analysis, please consult CDT's "Constitutional Analysis
of the Oxley Bill -- Child Online Protection Act". (It will be made
available on CDT's homepage, http://www.cdt.org).
________________________________________________________________________________
(4) Background on the Oxley bill ("CDA-II") HR 3783
For further information regarding this important piece of legislation,
please consult the following helpful links:
- CDT's Analysis of the bill:
http://www.cdt.org/speech/copa/980917oxleycomments.html
- Text of the Subcommittee Amendment:
http://www.cdt.org/legislation/105th/speech/oxley.html
- Summary of CDT Executive Director Jerry Berman's Testimony before the
House Subcommittee on Telecommunications (9/11/98):
http://www.cdt.org/testimony/980911jbermantestsum.html
- Original text of bill on Thomas:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.3783:
- CDT's List of Legislation Affecting Free Speech on the Internet
http://www.cdt.org/legislation/105th/speech/
________________________________________________________________________________
(5) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Be sure you are up to date on the latest public policy issues affecting
civil liberties online and how they will affect you! Subscribe to the CDT
Policy Post news distribution list. CDT Policy Posts, the regular news
publication of the Center For Democracy and Technology, are received by
more than 13,000 Internet users, industry leaders, policy makers and
activists, and have become the leading source for information about
critical free speech and privacy issues affecting the Internet and other
interactive communications media.
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_____________________________________________________________________________
(6) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US
The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
organization based in Washington, DC. The Center's mission is to develop
and advocate public policies that advance democratic values and
constitutional civil liberties in new computer and communications
technologies.
Contacting us:
General information: info@cdt.org
World Wide Web: http://www.cdt.org/
Snail Mail: The Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 Eye Street NW * Suite 1100 * Washington, DC 20006
(v) +1.202.637.9800 * (f) +1.202.637.0968
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