Amici Description Child Online Protection Act (COPA) Janurary 11, 1999

THE AMICI

The Association of American Publishers, Inc. ("AAP") is the major national association in the United States of publishers of general books, textbooks and educational materials. Its approximately 200 members include most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States. AAP members publish most of the general, educational, and religious books produced in the United States. For AAP’s members, the Internet creates a new "electronic" marketplace in which both product and mode of delivery are assuming different forms. Increasingly competing for the consumer dollar with traditional paper versions of all manner of literature are works of similar content online. AAP’s members are eager participants in this exciting new marketplace.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors ("ASNE") is a nationwide, professional organization of more than 850 members who hold positions as directing editors of daily newspapers throughout the United States and Canada. Founded more than seventy-five years ago to improve the manner in which the journalism profession carries out its responsibilities in providing an unfettered and effective press in the service of the American people, ASNE is committed to the proposition that, pursuant to the First Amendment, the press has an obligation to provide the citizenry of this country with complete and accurate reports.

BiblioBytes, Inc. publishes a variety of electronic books on the Internet and provides them to the public free of charge, relying on financial support from advertisers who buy space on its Web site. As a previous plaintiff in ACLU v. Reno, BiblioBytes has a strong interest in this case and in protecting its ability to freely publish material on the Internet.

The Center for Democracy and Technology ("CDT") is a non-profit public interest and Internet policy organization. CDT represents the public's interest in an open, decentralized Internet reflecting constitutional and democratic values of free expression, privacy, and individual liberty. CDT's staff have conducted extensive policy research, published academic papers and analyses, and testified before Congress on the impact of Internet content regulations and the availability of alternative methods for protecting individuals online, including user empowerment tools and technologies.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund ("CBLDF") is an organization dedicated to defending the First Amendment rights of the American comic book industry. CBLDF represents artists, publishers, and distributors, as well as the broader community of specialty retailers and readers. Largely because comics are a graphic-based art form, the comic industry was quick to embrace the Internet, not only as a means to advertise and distribute its product, but as a new environment in which to create comics. Today, the largest individual retailers of comic books in the United States are Internet-based and online commerce in comics is steadily increasing. Past experience has shown that comics are particularly vulnerable to misapplication of "harmful-to-minors" standards as they are commonly perceived as an inherently juvenile art form. In reality, however, many comics are read by and geared to an adult audience. The CBLDF, therefore, fears that COPA would have a chilling effect on its many members who continue to explore and evolve the comic book art form.

The Commercial Internet Exchange Association ("CIX") is a trade association of public data Internet service providers ("ISPs") which promotes and encourages the development of the Internet industry in both national and international markets. The oldest association of ISPs, CIX’s members run more than 130 networks throughout the world. Its members include: @Home, AT&T, AGIS, Epoch, e.spire, Exodus, GTE Internetworking, MCI, WorldCom, MediaOne, PSINet, Sprint, Time Warner Fibrcom, and Verio.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association ("CCIA") is an international trade association whose members include major, midsize, and small independent software providers, computer equipment manufacturers, telecommunications and online service providers, resellers and systems integrators. CCIA’s members collectively generate approximately $250 billion in revenue annually and have approximately one million employees. For twenty-six years, CCIA has advocated open, barrier-free competition in the computer and communications industry.

The Freedom to Read Foundation ("FTRF") is an organization established in 1969 by the American Library Association to promote and defend First Amendment rights, support the rights of libraries to include in their collections and make available to the public any work they may legally acquire, and help shape legal precedent for the freedom to read on behalf of all citizens. The FTRF and its library members serve both as access and content providers on the Internet. Many member libraries post a diverse array of content on their Web sites, as well as sponsor chat groups. In view of past attempts by some persons to ban literature and reference items from library collections, many of the FTRF's members fear prosecution under COPA should they post materials on the Internet that might be deemed "harmful to minors" in some community. FTRF is thus concerned that the library patrons served by FTRF’s members will be denied access to constitutionally-protected materials.

The Interactive Digital Software Association ("IDSA") is a trade association whose members publish more than eighty-five percent of entertainment software in the United States. IDSA’s members market their software through World Wide Web sites and often make the software available to the public on the Internet for demonstration, purchase, and play. Some IDSA members host chat rooms on strategy or allow consumers to play games online against or with one another. IDSA members fear prosecution under COPA based on their dissemination of software marketed and labeled for adult players, or based on their operation of chat rooms intended for adult participants. IDSA strongly advocates user empowerment tools as a less restrictive alternative to COPA’s restrictions on speech. IDSA established the Entertainment Software Rating Board ("ESRB") in 1994 to give parents and consumers information about the content of video and computer games, enabling them to make informed purchase and rental decisions. An arm of ESRB, denominated ESRBI, issues ratings providing age appropriateness of a site, as well as information on a site's content. When used in conjunction with blocking and filtering technology, ESRBI ratings enable parents to determine which rated Internet sites are suitable for their children.

The Internet Alliance ("IA") is the leading trade association for the consumer-focused Internet online industry. IA, through its approximately 140 members, represents over eighty-five percent of the commercial Internet online consumer access marketplace. The IA’s mission is to build the consumer confidence and trust necessary for the Internet to become the global mass market medium of the twenty-first century.

Magazine Publishers of America ("MPA"), established in 1919, is a national trade association representing 200 domestic publishers of 1200 magazines who actively publish a substantial volume of content on the Internet. MPA members utilize the Internet in a variety of ways, including solicitation via Web sites of subscriptions for their publications, marketing of print and online publications to advertisers and agencies, promoting events, and sharing information with other publishers. Many MPA members publish electronic versions or excerpts from their magazines that might in some community be deemed "harmful to minors." MPA believes that credit card verification and adult identification systems would be economically burdensome and technologically infeasible for its members, and would, in the end, repel rather than attract visitors to its members’ Web sites.

The National Association of College Stores ("NACS") is a trade association composed of approximately 3,000 college stores located throughout the United States. NACS fears that certain materials that might be considered "harmful to minors" by a local federal prosecutor might be posted or sold over the Internet by a college store or professor in the context of online classes, or even by an entity linked to a college or college store Internet site. NACS’s members will thus be required to restrict the teaching and other college-related activities promoted through this medium.

The National Association of Recording Merchandisers ("NARM") is an international trade association whose more than 1000 members include entertainment retailers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers, many of whom conduct business over the Internet. Some of NARM’s members are online music retailers who market their recordings by permitting Internet users to download music samples before making a purchase with their credit cards. Permitting users to sample music before identifying themselves is an important feature of this marketing strategy. NARM members are concerned that they may be exposed to criminal liability under COPA simply for misjudging what may be deemed "harmful to minors" under an ambiguous standard.

The Newspaper Association of America ("NAA") represents the interests of more than 1,700 American and Canadian newspapers whose publications account for eighty-seven percent of the United States’ daily circulation. Many of these newspapers are currently on the Internet. A strong advocate of the press’ First Amendment rights, the NAA is particularly concerned with protecting the free flow of information over the Internet.

People For the American Way Foundation ("People For") is a nonpartisan, education-oriented citizens organization with more than 300,000 members. Established in 1980 to promote and protect civil and constitutional rights, including First Amendment freedoms, People For and its diverse members are vitally interested in the preservation of free expression over the Internet. Many of People For’s members engage in expression and receive information over the Internet, and have specific and personal interests in promoting and receiving uncensored information online.

The Periodical and Book Association of America, Inc. is an association of magazine and paperback book publishers who distribute their wares through independent national distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, many of whom conduct business over the Internet.

PSINet, Inc., founded in 1989, is the first and largest independent commercial Internet Service Provider, serving more than fifty thousand business accounts. PSINet also provides backbone Internet services to other Internet Service Providers, who in turn provide Internet access to more than 650,000 users worldwide.

The Publishers Marketing Association ("PMA") is a trade association representing more than 3,000 publishers across the United States and Canada. Many of PMA’s members are small, independent publishers who publish a variety of works, including many concerning controversial topics or involving experimental approaches to writing, which more mainstream publishers have not acquired. A number of PMA members have developed Web sites which offer book samples, chat rooms, and other fora for the discussion of their publications. The Internet is an essential tool for marketing and disseminating the unique voices represented by PMA’s members, and often is a significant source of their publishing income. The imposition of criminal sanctions for communications containing materials deemed "harmful to minors" is a real and tangible threat to these independent publishers, who provide a rich alternative to mainstream publishing houses. The PMA believes that the use of credit card and other user-identification systems defeat the purpose of this democratic medium by discouraging the informal perusal of works otherwise not accessible to the majority of Internet users.

The Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA"), a national trade association whose member companies produce, manufacture, and distribute more than ninety percent of the sound recordings sold in the United States, is committed to protecting its members’ free expression rights across all communications media, including the Internet.

The Society of Professional Journalists ("SPJ") is a voluntary organization of approximately 13,500 members. SPJ, the largest and most broad-based organization of journalists in the United States, represents every branch and rank of print and broadcast journalism. For more than eighty years, the SPJ has been dedicated to encouraging and perpetuating the free practice of journalism. As such, it strongly advocates the protection and preservation of First Amendments rights across all mediums, including the Internet.