****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 105 December 12, 1995 In this issue: (219 lines) URGENT ACTION NEEDED: FINAL FORM OF INTERNET CONTENT REGULATIONS TO BE VOTED ON BY HOUSE AND SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM BILL CONFEREES ***************************************************************** FINAL FORM OF INTERNET CONTENT REGULATIONS TO BE VOTED ON BY HOUSE AND SENATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM BILL CONFEREES Congressional sources indicated this morning that, while Congress IS likely to adopt new content-based criminal penalties, the final form of the so-called "Cyberporn" provisions remains up in the air. Staff to Representatives Hyde and White reportedly met into the night yesterday in an effort to reconcile their respective proposals. Senate conferees are slated to meet this afternoon, but may be delayed in returning to the table by expected Senate votes on committing U.S. forces to Bosnia. ALA has repeatedly urged the conferees NOT to adopt any new criminal penalties for use of the Internet and other telecommunications systems. It has also urged, however, that if Congress insists on doing so, criminal penalties should be triggered only by the transmission of material legally deemed "harmful to minors" (Mr. White's proposal) rather than by "indecent" material (as advanced by Mr. Hyde in the House and Mr. Exon in the Senate). Even if Representatives Hyde and White reach agreement, they must still convince the Senate conferees to accept a liability trigger based on something other than the constitutionally suspect "indecency" standard. As detailed in recent ALAWONs, the stakes in this debate for libraries and educational institutions are very high. New content-based criminal penalties for Internet transmission, especially ones based on "indecent" material, could well cripple libraries' and schools' trail-blazing efforts to put both children and adults on-line. Conference Committee members in both chambers of Congress MUST hear this message from you. IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON THIS DEBATE! NOW IS THE TIME TO PHONE, FAX AND E-MAIL BOTH THE HOUSE AND SENATE MEMBERS OF THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. ACTION NEEDED: A list of key House and Senate conferee phone and fax numbers (and e-mail addresses, where available) appears below. Constituents are urged to contact their own legislators, but especially constituents of conferees, with a clear message: ** DO NOT adopt new content-based criminal penalties for use of telecommunications systems; current criminal laws are adequate to protect the nation's children; ** IF such penalties are to be adopted, they should be imposed only for the transmission of material that is "harmful to minors," the legal standard now used in 48 states, NOT for transmitting "indecent" material which even the courts have not successfully defined; ** ENACTMENT of new criminal laws, especially ones triggered by the "indecency" standard, will force libraries across the country to drastically curtail public access to the Internet for BOTH children and adults in order to avoid prison sentences and stiff fines. PROVIDE examples from your library of the kinds of services, if you now offer them, that new criminal penalties could force you to discontinue. Finally, these and other points are emphasized in a draft op-ed article by ALA President Betty Turock also reproduced below. The Washington Office is also working to place this piece tomorrow in a major national newspaper. Please feel free to borrow from it in speaking with congressional offices and staff, AND to make it the basis for your own letters to the editor of your local newspapers and television stations. Few things are as important to a Member of Congress as the hometown newspaper and other media. LET LIBRARY VOICES BE HEARD! NOW IS THE TIME KEY SENATE AND HOUSE TELECOMM REFORM CONFEREES P ST Name & E-mail Address Phone Fax = == ======================== ========== ========== Use 202 Area Code for all numbers R AK Stevens, Ted 224-3004 224-2354 R AZ McCain, John 224-2235 228-2862 senator_mccain@mccain.senate.gov D HI Inouye, Daniel K. 224-3934 224-6747 R KS Dole, Robert 224-6521 228-1245 D KY Ford, Wendell H. 224-4343 N/A wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov R MS Lott, Trent 224-6253 224-2262 R MT Burns, Conrad R. 224-2644 224-8594 conrad_burns@burns.senate.gov D NE Exon, J. J. 224-4224 224-5213 D SC Hollings, Ernest F. 224-6121 224-4293 senator@hollings.senate.gov R SD Pressler, Larry 224-5842 224-1630 larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov R WA Gorton, Slade 224-3441 224-9393 senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov D WV Rockefeller, John D. 224-6472 224-7665 senator@rockefeller.senate.gov P ST&Dist Name & E-mail Address Phone Fax = ======= ====================== ========== ========= R GA 6 Gingrich, Newt 225-4501 225-4656 georgia6@hr.house.gov D MI 14 Conyers Jr., John 225-5126 225-0072 jconyers@hr.house.gov D CO 1 Schroeder, Patricia 225-4431 225-5842 D TX 18 Jackson-Lee, Sheila 225-3816 225-3317 D TN 6 Gordon, Bart 225-4231 225-6887 DRAFT LETTER TO THE EDITOR FROM ALA PRESIDENT BETTY TUROCK Librarians everywhere have for decades promoted a very simple message: "READ." They have directed that message to literally millions of children and adults in every corner of America because they believe, as does the American Library Association (ALA), that an informed population is the key to making Democracy -- the free flow of ideas at the core of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- work for everyone in our great nation. Librarians and the American Library Association (ALA) take a back seat to no profession or organization in safeguarding the nation's children. That's why the local library in cities and towns nationwide is a designated "Safe Place." That's why libraries strongly believe that the current criminal laws against preying on children or subjecting them to obscene material (as now solidly defined by the Supreme Court) can and must be vigorously enforced. And that's why no librarian worthy of the name will point any child to obscene material on the Internet or anywhere else. In the House's current version of telecommunications reform legislation being negotiated with the Senate, however, librarians and educators could be sentenced to up to two years in prison (and fined up to $100,000) merely for using a computer system to transmit "indecent" material in a manner that could result in it inadvertently being viewed by a minor. This means -- depending on how the vague and Constitutionally problematic word "indecent" is ultimately defined -- that librarians could go to jail for helping an adult access many classic and prize-winning works of modern fiction, or commentary about them, unless the computer terminal on the receiving end of the transmission was locked away from children. Clearly, faced with the very real threat of new criminal liability, and deep uncertainty as to what type of material might trigger it, librarians and educators could well be forced to curtail or terminate their trail-blazing work to put Americans of all ages on-line. Small businesses, campus and other health networks, even local governments seeking to use the Internet to initiate a frank discussion of [local zoning regulation] everyday information needs, all may find library facilities and librarian expertise on the Internet unavailable to them. Congress clearly does not intend to destroy the promise of the Internet by forcing schools and libraries to abandon the "schools without walls" programs, tele-medicine projects, and small business promotion campaigns that they now nurture. But, that is exactly what will happen if new criminal penalties for potentially positive uses of the Internet are adopted, or if the standard for criminal liability is counterproductively and needlessly broad. For all of these reasons, the ALA and librarians everywhere urge Congress to do what they have exhorted the nation to do for decades: READ the fine print of the telecommunications reform legislation now before the House/ Senate Conference Committee and reject the dangerously vague "indecency standard." If material "harmful to minors" on the Internet is the problem, then let's address the problem. If new criminal penalties are unavoidable, then only the transmission of material "harmful to minors" should be unlawful. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 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: Adam M. Eisgrau and Claudette W. Tennant; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). 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