1996-02-14
Craig A. Johnson
In a front page story in today's New York Times, Peter Lewis reports
that Compuserve has ended its ban on access to sex-related sites.
--caj
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
The New York Times, Wednesday, February 14, 1996
(Excerpt)
COMPUSERVE ENDS ITS BAN ON SEX MATERIAL
By Peter H. Lewis
"Citing a desire to leave Internet censorship to individual tastes
rather than government decree, the online company CompuserveInc.
said yesterday that it would restore worldwide access to most of the
200 sex-related compute data bases it had recently blocked under press
from German prosecutors.
"Instead of barring all of its 4.3 million subscribers from access to
the controversial sites, Compuserve said it would provide subscribers
with software that could be employed to selectively block any
material the user finds offensive.
...
"Compuserve's decision to restore acces to the groups was condemned
by conservative organizations, many of which had lobbied extensively
to support the Communications Decency Act.
"'By this action, Compuserve is intentionally providing obscene
material to its subscribers by making it available to them on their
service and they do so at their peril,' said Cathleen A. Cleaver,
director of legal studies at the Family Research Council, a
conservative group in Washington. 'We will encourage the Justice
Department to prosecute Compuserve for violating the Federal obscenity
distribution statute.'
"Compuserve's action was praised by free speech and civil liberties
groups. 'The Compuserve decision today is the right policy for the
Internet,' said Jerry Berman, director of the Center for Democracy
and Technology in Washington. 'It provides for user control and
parental control, and is consistent with the free flow of information
around the world.'"
...
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
~ CYBER-RIGHTS ~
~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Visit The Cyber-Rights Library, accessible via FTP or WWW at:
ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/
http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/
You are encouraged to forward and cross-post list traffic,
pursuant to any contained copyright & redistribution restrictions.
~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
