CDT POLICY POST Volume 6, Number 8 April 19, 2000

A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES ONLINE
from
THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS:
(1) Mandatory Filtering Legislation in Congress
(2) Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail ("Spam") Bill
(3) COPA Commission (Commission on Online Child Protection)

_______________________________________________________________________

(1) MANDATORY FILTERING LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS

For several years, on different bills, Congress has come close to adopting amendments that would require schools or librarires to use filtering software. CDT opposes mandatory filtering legislation.

Another battle over filtering is now shaping up. The House Education and the Workforce Committee is expected soon to consider draft bills to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Although at present there is no mandatory filtering language in these bills, it is likely that such language will be offered as amendments, probably on the House floor. The language offered could be as extreme as the language offered last fall by Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK). Or it could be more moderate language requiring either a stringent acceptable use policy or mandatory use of filtering, blocking or monitoring software (modeled on Sen. Rick Santorum's (R-PA) bill S. 1545). A third proposed alternative is to require schools to adopt Internet use policies.

For the text of S. 1545, see http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:s.01545:

For more details on the Istook mandatory filtering language last fall, see http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_5.23.shtml

In this debate, it is worth noting how earlier this spring the town of Holland, Michigan voted to reject mandatory filtering of Internet access in the public library. The election demonstrated how local communities can work together to develop children's online safety measure that best fit their own needs, without imposing filtering on all library patrons. The Holland community met shortly after the election to develop an Internet use policy that will effectively address the community's interests in both access to information on the Internet and children's safety, without federal mandates or a straitjacket approach.

For more information on the post-election decisionmaking process in Holland, Michigan, see http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/022500/new_net.html

_______________________________________________________________

(2) UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL ("SPAM")

Anti-spam legislation is moving in the House of Representatives. On March 23, the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications approved HR 3113, the "Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act of 2000," introduced by Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM). The full Commerce Committee may take up the bill after its current spring recess.

Many Internet users are frustrated with high volumes of unsolicited commercial electronic mail. CDT supports efforts to help empower Internet users to reduce the flow of unsolicited commercial email they receive. We also support enforcement of existing anti-fraud laws and other state laws wherever appropriate.

But this anti-spam legislation raises several concerns:

CDT also wants to make sure that the law does not cover email sent by individuals, nonprofits and others whose primary purpose is not commercial.

We have expressed our concerns to the Commerce Committee and to Congresswoman Wilson's office, and hope to see some of these changes reflected in the next draft of the legislation.

For further information on HR 3113, see http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.03113:

____________________________________________________________

(3) COPA COMMISSION

The Commission on Online Child Protection met for the first time March 7. The Commission, created by Congress when it passed the Children's Online Protection Act (COPA) in the fall of 1998, is charged with looking into technological options for keeping kids safe online.

The first meeting was primarily administrative. Dr. Donald Telage, the Executive Advisor for Global Internet Strategy, Network Solutions, was elected Chair of the Commission. There was wide-ranging discussion about the Commission's goals, timeline, scope of work, and funding. The newly-elected Chairman indicated that he would draft a proposed meeting schedule, budget and work plan to be circulated for discussion as soon as possible.

The next meeting, which will be open to the public, will be in Washington DC on Friday, April 28, 2000, at the offices of the FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Room 532, Washington, DC from 9 AM to 4 PM.

The Commission agreed in principle to hold a number of hearings in different locations around the US, and that its work should be open to the public, with possible exceptions for information about proprietary technology and law enforcement investigations.

The Commissioners are:

Sitting as ex officio non-voting members of the commission are: The section of COPA creating the Commission remains in force even though the provisions of COPA regulating Internet content that is considered "harmful to minors" have been ruled unconstitutional and their enforcement blocked by a federal court. The government has appealed the lower court decision against COPA to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments in November 1999, and could rule at any time.

For more information on COPA, see:

_____________________________________________________________


Detailed information about online civil liberties issues may be found at http://www.cdt.org/.

This document may be redistributed freely in full or linked to http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_6.08.shtml.

Excerpts may be re-posted with prior permission of ari@cdt.org

Policy Post 6.08 Copyright 2000 Center for Democracy and Technology