@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ >From: "Craig A. Johnson" <•••@••.•••> Date: Fri, 15 Dec 1995 Subject: News Brief: "Indecency" stays in bill House-Senate telecom conferees in a closed meeting today accepted the "indecency" standard, with "defenses" and "good faith" actions to protect providers. The precise wording of this corporate security blanket has not been made public. The intention is to bring the bill to the House floor by Tuesday or Wednesday. There is some discussion that the 45 conference committee members may sign off on the final language in circulation, without calling a formal meeting. The final report then would be filed with the House, since it was the last body to act on the bill. It really makes no little difference if there are "defenses" for providers. The "indecency" standard will wreak havoc on the Net. Think of all the backwater communities with their absurd standards of "indecency." Think of innumerable Thomas BBS cases, only now applied to the Net. Basically, the "defenses" and "good faith actions," however they are tacked on, are pure garbage, and will inflict untold costs on nonprofit users and providers and small to medium-sized service providers. It is reported that White was successful in grafting on some of his "good faith" stuff, but if the White proposal was flawed before, with the "harmful to minors standard," now it is absolutely nauseating. Net cops, snoops, spooks, monitors, and goose-stepping security patrols will rule the Net. In my view (and many do not agree), the whole White thing was an effort to rescue the big boys and damn the consumers. It was a high-risk gamble, but as one very senior Senate Democratic staffer told me, "the Christian Coalition runs this place" now. The Christian Coalition of course argued that Exon was not hard enough on porn; they wanted Hyde. White, hopefully not wittingly, gave the Exonites political cover, so they could argue their solution was to the left of Hyde. We end up with Exon-White, with the "indecency" standard intact. Craig A. Johnson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Telecommunications/Information Policy Specialist Transnational Data Reporting Service, Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ •••@••.••• @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore (•••@••.•••) Wexford, Ireland CyberRights co-leader | Cyberlib=http://www.internet-eireann.ie/cyberlib ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
