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           CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION
        (SEE THE LIST OF CAMPAIGN COALITION MEMBERS AT THE END)

        Update: -Latest News: Congress could vote on Thurs (2/1/96) to
                              censor the Internet; passage is likely.

                -What You Can Do Now: Call Congress and tell them
                                      to remove the net censorship
                                      language.
        
        CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
                  Jan 31, 1996 (expires Feb 29, 1996)

      PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT

 This alert authored by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org)

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CONTENTS
        The Latest News
        What You Can Do Now
        Chronology of the CDA
        For More Information
        List Of Participating Organizations

________________________________________________________________________
THE LATEST NEWS

The Internet censorship legislation, bundled with the Telecommunications
Deregulation bill (S652/HR1555), would impose a speech standard on the 
Internet of "indecency", dumbing down public discourse on the net to
only that which is appropriate for children.   It could be voted on as
early as this Thursday, 2/1/96.

This legislation, available from http://www.cdt.org/cda.html, has changed
consistently for the worse despite the best efforts over the last year of
many public interest groups to bring it in line with the protections outlined
in the First Amendment.

Congress is poised to vote on Thursday, Feburary 1.  We are not hopeful
that Congress will reject the behemoth Telecommunications bill on the basis
of the unconstitutional Internet censorship language.  It is likely to pass,
or be cemented in stone to prevent it from changing in any way before a
future vote, should this one be delayed.

This is one issue that, despite the legislative efforts of the best civil
liberties representatives on the planet, will have to be resolved in court.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

It is unlikely that even a massive public outcry will be enough to defeat
the Telecommunications Deregulation bill.  We do feel that you should
continue to speak your mind however, and remind Congress that you are
concerned about the callousness with which they treat the First Amendment
in a medium they often have little experience in.  Remember, no matter
how bad it gets this year, someone will probably introduce a similar
bill next year, and we'll need to continue to educate these people all over
again.

1. Call your Senators and Representatives and tell them you find the
   net censorship provisions unacceptable.  A complete list of legislators
   can be found at http://www.house.gov/ and http://www.senate.gov/
   In addition, you can try looking up your Senator with the Zipper, a
   service which lets you look up your legislator by entering your zipcode.
   http://www.stardot.com/zipper/

   Sample communique:

        

        RECEPTIONIST
        Hello, this is Senator Dongle's office.  May I help you?

        YOU
        Congress is about to vote on provisions of the telecommunications 
        reform bill which will cripple the Internet as a viable means of
        free expression, education, and commerce.  I am outraged that this
        proposal has made it this far.  Please do everything in your power
        to remove these provisions from the bill.

        RECEPTIONIST
        Ok, thanks for calling!

2. If anything interesting transpires during the call, send us email at
   vtw@vtw.org so we can investigate.

        $ Mail vtw@vtw.org
        Subject: called Senator Dongle

        I called Senator Dongle, and his staff says that they weren't
        aware that anyone had a problem with the Internet censorship
        language.  Perhaps you should pay them a visit.

        ^D
        Mail sent!

3. Sit back and watch the court challenge.  We hoped it wouldn't have to come
   to this.

________________________________________________________________________
CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT

Jan 31, '96     The House and Senate prepare to signoff on the conference
                report for the Telecomm bill and rush a vote to the floor.
Dec  7, '95     The House half of the Telecomm conference committee
                votes the "indecency" standard for online speech into
                the Telecomm Deregulation bill.
Sep 26, '95     Sen. Russ Feingold urges committee members to drop
                Managers Amendment and the CDA from the Telecommunications
                Deregulation bill
Aug  4, '95     House passes HR1555 which goes into conference with S652.
Aug  4, '95     House votes to attach Managers Amendment (which contains
                new criminal penalties for speech online) to
                Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555).
Aug  4, '95     House votes 421-4 to attach HR1978 to Telecommunications
                Reform bill (HR1555).
Jun 30, '95     Cox and Wyden introduce the "Internet Freedom and Family
                Empowerment Act" (HR 1978) as an alternative to the CDA.
Jun 21, '95     Several prominent House members publicly announce their
                opposition to the CDA, including Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA),
                Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Jun 14, '95     The Senate passes the CDA as attached to the Telecomm
                reform bill (S 652) by a vote of 84-16.  The Leahy bill
                (S 714) is not passed, but is supported by 16 Senators
                who understand the Internet.
May 24, '95     The House Telecomm Reform bill (HR 1555) leaves committee
                in the House with the Leahy alternative attached to it,
                thanks to Rep. Ron Klink of (D-PA).  The Communications
                Decency Act is not attached to it.
Apr  7, '95     Sen. Leahy (D-VT) introduces S.714, an alternative to
                the Exon/Gorton bill, which commissions the Dept. of
                Justice to study the problem to see if additional legislation
                (such as the CDA) is necessary.
Mar 23, '95     S314 amended and attached to the telecommunications reform
                bill by Sen. Gorton (R-WA).  Language provides some provider
                protection, but continues to infringe upon email privacy
                and free speech.
Feb 21, '95     HR1004 referred to the House Commerce and Judiciary committees
Feb 21, '95     HR1004 introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-SD)
Feb  1, '95     S314 referred to the Senate Commerce committee
Feb  1, '95     S314 introduced by Sen. Exon (D-NE) and Gorton (R-WA).

________________________________________________________________________
FOR MORE INFORMATION

Web Sites (roughly in alphabetical order)
        URL:http://www.vtw.org/
        URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html
        URL:http://www.cpsr.org/
        URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
        URL:http://epic.org/

Email:
        files@vtw.org (put "ipcfaq" in the subject line for the Internet
                Parental Control FAQ or "cdafaq" for the CDA FAQ)
        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 Communication Association * American Council for the Arts *
Arts & Technology Society * biancaTroll productions * Boston Coalition
for Freedom of Expression * Californians Against Censorship Together *
Center For Democracy And Technology * Centre for Democratic
Communications * Center for Public Representation * Citizen's Voice -
New Zealand * Cloud 9 Internet *Computer Communicators Association *
Computel Network Services * Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility * Cross Connection * Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer
Lounge * Dorsai Embassy * Dutch Digital Citizens' Movement * ECHO
Communications Group, Inc. * 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 * FranceCom, Inc. Web Advertising
Services * Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands
Off!  The Net * HotWired * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle
Technologies, Inc. * Inst. for Global Communications * Internet
On-Ramp, Inc. * Internet Users Consortium * Joint Artists' and Music
Promotions Political Action Committee * The Libertarian Party *
Marijuana Policy Project * Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * Michigan
Electronic Communities of Concerned Adults * MindVox * MN Grassroots
Party * National Bicycle Greenway * National Campaign for Freedom of
Expression * National Coalition Against Censorship * National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force * National Public Telecomputing Network * National
Writers Union * Oregon Coast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet *
People for the American Way * Republican Liberty Caucus * Rock Out
Censorship * Society for Electronic Access * The Thing International
BBS Network * The WELL * Web Review Magazine * Wired Magazine * Voters
Telecommunications Watch

(Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities,
 not EFF chapters or divisions.)

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        End Alert
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