Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996
Sender: Don Bass <•••@••.•••>
Subject: CDA Suit Snowballs
Friends:
This is not news to you, but the quote of ALA's Judith Krug is worth
knowing. This from Educom's Edupage:
CHALLENGE TO COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
The legal challenge to the Communications Decency Act has grown stronger
with the merger of two civil lawsuits into a single action in which the
plaintiffs include the American Library Association, the Center for
Democracy and Technology, the American Civil Liberties Union, a number of
other civil rights groups, America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, Microsoft
Network, Netcom, and Microsoft. The CDA makes it a felony to knowingly
transmit "indecent" or patently offensive sexual material over
communications networks where children may see it. Judith Krug of the ALA
says:
"The Internet is the communications medium for the 21st century, and
the most important thing that has happened to communications since the
printing press. Our main argument is that you cannot limit ideas and
information to the lowest common denominator, which is what this law does.
It is unconstitutional to force adults to limit the information they can see
to a level suitable for children." (New York Times 26 Feb 96 C2)
