The following file has been added to the Cyber-Rights Library: -- A nice article on CompuServe's newsgroup removal and other recent events has been filed as: "Net-Suppression/SJMercury-On-Compuserve-Censorship" Here's a (heavily edited) excerpt: @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ COMPUSERVE STIRS DEBATE OF CENSORSHIP By HOWARD BRYANT Mercury News Staff Writer WHEN Compuserve Inc. agreed recently to block more than 200 Internet newsgroups that violated German obscenity laws, First Amendment stalwarts in the United States cringed in fear and seethed with anger. Civil libertarian groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, say it is time for a sweeping landmark court case that clarifies the gray legal issues of cyberspace. Without it, expect a more intrusive government and an increasingly chaotic Internet atmosphere. But there is a problem: First Amendment analysts say major on-line players are unwilling to take on the federal government -- either generally or in court. Experts say they fear unfavorable legal precedents in an industry that is still in its relative infancy. Too, on-line providers may not want the publicity as Congress and others debate what is considered acceptable content in cyberspace. <...> When Netcom released its latest NetCruiser software that allows computers to view the World Wide Web and 14,000 Internet discussion groups, the software offered listings of every type of newsgroup except the 4,000 newsgroups that contained the ''alt'' prefix. While some sexually explicit newsgroups on the Internet begin with ''alt,'' many others do also such as alt.sports.baseball.sf-giants. Curt Kundred, a Netcom spokesman says the ''alt'' groups were omitted for the purpose of saving disk space. He said the company had no motives to block Internet content. Netcom subscribers can still access the ''alt'' newsgroups. But Netcom's actions have been perceived by a substantial part of the on-line community as anti-free speech, a potentially deadly rap in the court of public opinion. <...> Looming is the specter of the telecommunications bill, currently stalled in Congress that includes the strictest anti-pornography provisions the Internet community has faced during its young existence. But while the federal government has been attacked, many analysts blame the Big Three -- Compuserve, America Online and Prodigy -- for the easy passage of the Exon provisions. Some policy groups say the major on-line services didn't put up a strong enough fight against the Exon forces, while others point to a compromise between the major on-line services and the government. The compromise, although not yet approved by Congress, says access providers will not be held liable for any sexual material transmitted over their networks. <...> @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Cyber-Rights Library archives documents and informational postings relevant to our campaign. It is accessible via FTP or WWW at: ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ The Cyber-Rights Web page is located at: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
