****Begin File*************Begin File**************Begin File**** ***************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 4, Number 100 December 5, 1995 In this issue: (148 lines) VOTE IMMINENT ON CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR "INTERNET INDECENCY" BY HOUSE-SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM CONFEREES ***************************************************************** VOTE IMMINENT ON CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR "INTERNET INDECENCY" BY HOUSE-SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM CONFEREES As of this writing, members of the Conference Committee appointed to reconcile differences in telecommunications reform bills passed independently by the House and Senate as "S. 652" are scheduled to resume the conference tomorrow, Wednesday morning - December 6, at 9:00 a.m. in the hopes of reaching agreement on a unified bill that may be sent back to both chambers for final approval. The first order of business reportedly will be an amendment by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, intended to outlaw the use of computers to make or make available "indecent" communications through any "telecommunications device." The Hyde Amendment, which is backed by a number of conservative religious organizations, has been opposed by many in the educational and library community (including ALA, as detailed below) because it would almost certainly subject librarians and educators to new and stiff criminal penalties for using the Internet and other electronic resources to perform core library and educational functions. An alternative to Rep. Hyde's approach, which also will be offered as an amendment at tomorrow's meeting, has been crafted by freshman Rep. Rick White (R-WA). Because it too includes potential new criminal liability for the transmission or display of material "harmful to minors," these communities have not endorsed the White Amendment, per se. It does, however, include several proposals for which library advocates, including the Washington Office, pushed hard. These provisions include assurance that libraries which **choose** to filter Internet content for young users will be able to take advantage of provisions in the law insulating them from liability, and language preempting individual states from regulating libraries and schools more strictly than any new federal law would. As indicated above, ALA has been active directly with congressional offices, with other library organizations, and with broader coalitions of public interest and industry groups. In the process surrounding the telecommunications conference, ALA's message to House-Senate conferees has been: * No new federal intervention to govern Internet content is needed at this time; current federal and state statutes are adequate. * IF Congress feels that it must act to impose such new controls, the Cox/Wyden "carrot," rather than the Exon/Hyde "stick" approach is preferable, but the "carrot" approach should be modified to assure that it also explicitly protects libraries and educational institutions from liability. Most recently, ALA worked to help develop and signed onto a December 4 letter to conferees from a dozen education and library groups, including ALA. This letter, written in anticipation of an imminent vote, urged conferees to oppose the Hyde amendment discussed above. While the letter from the 12 organizations also acknowledged Rep. White's efforts to address the concerns of librarians and educators, it did not endorse the White proposal. The December 4 letter, made three main points: * The Hyde amendment would criminalize a vaguely defined and overly broad range of electronic communication, subjecting educational institutions and libraries to criminal liability, and severely impairing the ability of these institutions and libraries to provide students and young people with access to computer networks. * If Congress must legislate further in this area it should at a minimum reject criminal liability based on an undefined "indecency" standard, limiting liability to transmission of material that is "harmful to minors." * In any legislation, Congress should assure that librarians and educators may continue to develop the educational benefits of electronic communication by limiting library and educational institution exposure to criminal liability under disparate state laws. The 12 organizations signing the December 4 letter to conferees on S. 652 were: American Association of Community Colleges American Association of Law Libraries American Association of State Colleges and Universities American Council on Education American Library Association Association of American Universities Association of Research Libraries Coalition for Networked Information Computing Research Association EDUCOM National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges House-Senate conferees are clearly in a critical last-minute push to iron out the differences between the two versions of S.652 and to send this bill forward to the House and Senate floors for final approval. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-628-8410; Fax: 202-628-8419. Contributing to this issue: Carol C. Henderson and Adam M. Eisgrau; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (Internet). Back issues and other documents are available from the listserv the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. The ALA-WO filelist contains the list of files with the exact filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue the command "send filename filetype" to the listserv. Do not include the quotes in your commands. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. For other reprinting or redistribution, address requests to the ALA Washington Office (alawash@alawash.org). ****End File****************End File*****************End File**** *****************************************************************