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CIEC Update No. 17 - CIEC Files Brief with Supreme Court in CDA App
Aunque muchos ya tendréis este documento del Centro para la Democracia y la
Tecnología. A pesar de ello y dado que otros no lo conocerán, os lo envío
dada su relación con algunos de los debates de esta corrala escéptica.
Xoan M. Carreira
<xoanmc en lix.intercom.es>
----------
> De: Jonah Seiger <ciec-editor en cdt.org>
> A: ciec-members en cdt.org
> Asunto: CIEC Update No. 17 - CIEC Files Brief with Supreme Court in CDA
Appeal
> Fecha: jueves 20 de febrero de 1997 22:05
>
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>
> Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition Update No. 17
> February 20, 1997
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.cdt.org/ciec/
> ciec-info en cdt.org
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> CIEC UPDATES are intended for members of the Citizens Internet
> Empowerment Coalition. CIEC Updates are written and edited by the
> Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org). This
> document may be reposted as long as it remains in its entirety.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ** 56,000 Netizens Vs. U.S. Department of Justice. **
> * The Fight To Save Free Speech Online *
>
> Contents:
>
> o CIEC Plaintiffs File Supreme Court Briefs in CDA Appeal
> o How to Remove Yourself From This List
> o More Information on CIEC and the Center for Democracy and Technology
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> CITIZENS INTERNET EMPOWERMENT COALITION FILES BRIEF WITH SUPREME COURT
> IN CDA APPEAL
>
> The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC) today filed its brief
> before the United States Supreme Court in the legal challenge to the
> Communications Decency Act (CDA), a law imposing broad content
regulations
> on the Internet.
>
> The full text of the brief, along with detailed background on the case,
can
> be found at http://www.cdt.org/ciec/.
>
> The CIEC plaintiffs urged the Supreme Court to agree with a lower court
> ruling that the CDA violates the First Amendment by imposing restrictive,
> TV-broadcast style content regulations on an inherently democratic
medium.
> Among other things, the CIEC argues:
>
> * The Internet is a unique communications medium that deserves free
> speech protection at least as broad as that enjoyed by print medium.
>
> * Individual users and parents -- not the government -- should decide
> what material is appropriate for their children, and;
>
> * Simple, inexpensive user empowerment technology is the only effective
> and constitutional way of limiting the access of minors to
objectionable
> material on the Internet.
>
> The Communications Decency Act was ruled unconstitutional by a special
> panel of three federal judges in Philadelphia in June of 1996.
>
> Plaintiffs in the CIEC include the American Library Association, civil
> liberties groups, America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, Microsoft, Apple,
> the Recording Industry Association of America, the American Society of
> Newspaper Editors, the Newspaper Association of America, WIRED Magazine,
> and over 56,000 individual Internet users. The lead plaintiff in the case
> is the American Library Association (a full list is attached below).
>
> The CIEC law suit, also known as ALA v. DOJ, was consolidated with a
> similar case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and 20 other
> plaintiffs, known as ACLU v. Reno. The cases will be argued together
before
> the Supreme Court on Wednesday March 19 at 10:00 am ET. The Supreme
> Court's decision is expected in late June or early July.
>
> The Government filed its brief with the Supreme Court on January 20,
1997.
> The full text of that document, along with amicus briefs filed by
> conservative "pro-family" groups and Members of Congress who supported
the
> CDA can be found online at http://www.cdt.org/ciec/
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> WHAT YOU CAN DO
>
> It's not to late to become a part of this landmark case! Internet users
who
> support the free flow of information online and believe that individual
> users and parents, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, are the best and most
> appropriate judges of what material is appropriate for themselves and
their
> children can JOIN THE CITIZENS INTERNET EMPOWERMENT COALITION.
>
> It's easy and it's free. Help us fight for the future of the Internet as
a
> viable means of free expression, education, and commerce. Visit:
>
> http://www.cdt.org/ciec/join_ciec.html
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> BACKGROUND ON THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT
>
> The Communications Decency Act, enacted in February 1996, made it a crime
> punishable by up to $250,000 and 2 years in prison to "display" or "make
> available" any "indecent" or "patently offensive" material on a public
> forum online.
>
> Because the Internet is a global medium with no centralized point of
> control, and because every user of the Internet is a publisher with the
> capacity to reach millions of people, broad government content
regulations
> pose a serious threat to the free flow of information online and the
First
> Amendment rights of all Americans.
>
> Judge Steward Dalzell, in his opinion declaring the Communications
Decency
> Act unconstitutional in June, noted that the Internet is a unique
> communications medium that allows users tremendous control over the
> Information they receive. Dalzell stated:
>
> "If the goal of our First Amendment jurisprudence is the 'individual
> dignity and choice' that arises from 'putting the decision as to what
> views shall be voiced largely into the hands of each of us', then we
> should be especially vigilant in preventing content-based regulation
> of a medium that every minute allows individual citizens actually to
> make those decisions. Any content-based regulation of the Internet,
> no matter how benign the purpose, would burn the global village to
> roast the pig."
>
> While supporters argue that the law is designed to protect children from
> so-called "pornography" on the Internet, 2 separate Federal Courts have
> agreed that they law goes far beyond that and would ban otherwise
> constitutionally protected materials. Under the CDA, classic fiction
such
> as the "Catcher in the Rye" or "Ulysses", AIDS and Sex education
materials,
> rap lyrics, the "7-dirty words" and other material which, while offensive
> to some, enjoy full First Amendment protection in print, would be illegal
> if posted on a public forum on the Internet.
>
> The outcome of this legal challenge will have far reaching implications.
At
> stake is nothing less than the future of the First Amendment in the
> information age.
>
> Please continue to visit the CIEC web page for the latest news and
> information on the case (http://www.cdt.org/ciec)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> CITIZENS INTERNET EMPOWERMENT COALITION MEMBERSHIP
>
> The 27 plaintiffs in the case include: American Library Association,
Inc.;
> America Online, Inc.; American Booksellers Association, Inc.; American
> Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; American Society of Newspaper
> Editors; Apple Computer, Inc.; Association of American Publishers, Inc.;
> Association of Publishers, Editors and Writers; Citizens Internet
> Empowerment Coalition; Commercial Internet eXchange; CompuServe
> Incorporated.; Families Against Internet Censorship; Freedom to Read
> Foundation, Inc.; Health Sciences Libraries Consortium; HotWired Ventures
> LLC; Interactive Digital Software Association; Interactive Services
> Association; Magazine Publishers of America, Inc.; Microsoft Corporation;
> Microsoft Network; National Press Photographers Association; NETCOM
On-Line
> Communication Services, Inc.; Newspaper Association of America; Opnet,
> Inc.; Prodigy Services Company; Wired Ventures, Ltd.; and, the Society of
> Professional Journalists Ltd., and over 56,000 Individual Internet Users
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> HOW TO REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THIS LIST
>
> As CIEC members, you have been invited to join this list in order to
> receive news updates and other information relevant to the CIEC challenge
> to the Communications Decency Act.
>
> If you ever want to remove yourself from this list, send email to
>
> ciec-members-request en cdt.org
>
> with 'unsubscribe ciec-members' in the SUBJECT LINE (w/o the 'quotes').
> Leave the body of your message blank.
>
> Back issues of the CIEC
> Trial Bulletin -- http://www.cdt.org/ciec/bulletins/index.html
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> FOR MORE INFORMATION
>
> For more information on the CIEC challenge, including detailed background
> information on the case and other relevant materials:
>
> * World Wide Web -- http://www.cdt.org/ciec/
> * General Information about CIEC -- ciec-info en cdt.org
> * Copy of the Original Complaint -- ciec-docs en cdt.org
>
> * Specific Questions Regarding the
> Coalition, including Press Inquiries -- ciec en cdt.org
>
> * General information about the
> Center for Democracy and Technology -- info en cdt.org
>
> --
> end ciec-update.17
> 02/20/97