_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 111 ISSN 1069-7799 September 25, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (89 lines) (1) ACTION NEEDED: CONTACT SENATORS TO OPPOSE FILTERING REQUIREMENTS (2) COALITION SENDS ALERT ON CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT _________________________________________________________________ ACTION NEEDED: CONTACT SENATORS TO OPPOSE FILTERING REQUIREMENTS Requirements for libraries and schools to install blocking and filtering software as a condition of receiving the e-rate telecommunications discounts may resurface as attachments to other bills in the hectic end-of-session atmosphere in this Congress. While Sen. John McCain's amendment (similar to his bill, S. 1619) remains attached to a Commerce Department funding bill, the outlook for appropriations riders is uncertain, and so sponsors seek other legislative vehicles for such amendments. One likely vehicle for Sen. McCain's filtering requirement is the Internet Tax Freedom Act (S. 442), pending now on the Senate floor and scheduled for action on Tuesday, September 29. ACTION NEEDED: Contact your Senators immediately. The U.S. Capitol Switchboard phone number is 202-224-3121; or you can contact Senators is through the ALA Washington Office Legislative Action Center at http://congress.nw.dc.us/ala/. THE MESSAGE: Please continue the same message so many of you have been making so effectively based on your own experience: * Respect local decision making by libraries and schools and their boards on Internet access. * Do not impose one unsatisfactory technological solution on all states and communities. * If Congress must legislate, provisions such as Sen. Conrad Burns' (R-MT) proposal to require that local Internet use policies be in place are more acceptable. Senators need to hear this again and again from public and school libraries and library advocates. _________________________________________________________________ COALITION SENDS ALERT ON CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC) that formed to challenge the Communications Decency Act has issued an alert about the Child Online Protection Act, H.R. 3783. The House Commerce Committee approved this bill on September 24. Sponsored by Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), the bill is a revised version of the Senate-passed bill sponsored by Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN). The Oxley measure would make it a crime for anyone, by means of the World Wide Web, to make any communication for commercial purposes that is harmful to minors unless the speaker has restricted access by minors by requiring a credit card number or other age verification procedure. CIEC notes problems with the age verification process, with a "harmful to minors" standard applied to the Internet, and with provisions that impinge on the privacy of adults. CIEC urges those concerned to stay tuned. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/ subscribe.html or send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Carol C. Henderson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. _________________________________________________________________