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ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update -- 11/22/95
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November 22, 1995
ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES UPDATE
A bi-weekly e-zine on cyber-liberties cases and controversies
at the state and federal level.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
* New York Civil Liberties Union Opposes Discipline of Cornell Students
for Offensive Online Speech
* Seattle Negotiates New Franchise Agreement with Cable Network to Offer
Internet Access; ACLU of Washington Gives Testimony on Privacy Implications
* Watch Out for Cyber-Liberties Infringements in Counter-Terrorism
Legislation; House May Consider Bill in Early December
* Update and ACTION ALERT on Federal Online Indecency Legislation
* Online Discussion Groups on Electronic Access Issues
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STATE PAGE (Legislation/Agency/Court Cases)
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* New York Civil Liberties Union Opposes Discipline of Cornell Students for
Offensive Online Speech
The latest controversy over appropriate use of the Internet at universities
erupted last week after four Cornell students made a list of "75 reasons why
women should not have freedom of speech" and the list got loose on the
Internet. Responding to e-mail and phone complaints about the message,
Cornell considered disciplinary action against the students.
The NYCLU wrote a letter to Cornell on Thursday, November 16th, urging
Cornell not to proceed with disciplinary action. The letter said, "Freedom
of expression, especially in the academic forum, is designed to encourage
truth-seeking by protecting the challenge and response of intellectual
discourse. . . . It is understandable that university officials should be
concerned about the increase in the use of sexist language. . . . However,
no matter how troubling or offensive the message is, the administration of
Cornell University should not depart from principles of freedom of expression
when addressing the issues surrounding this dispute." The letter went on to
note that "the marketplace theory of free expression appears to be in full
swing as the wrong-minded e-mail message has apparently already provoked
thousands of angry messages' both to Cornell and to the particular four
students."
On Thursday afternoon, Cornell announced that it would not pursue any
disciplinary action against the students.
For a copy of the letter that NYCLU sent to Cornell, send a message to
[email protected] with "NYCLU Letter to Cornell" in the subject line. For
more information, contact Beth Haroules, Staff Attorney, NYCLU, at
212-382-0557.
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* Seattle Negotiates New Franchise Agreement with Cable Network to Offer
Internet Access; ACLU of Washington Testifies at Hearing on Privacy
Implications
Cities across the country are beginning to renegotiate franchise agreements
with cable networks who want to get into the Internet access business. Civil
libertarians must work to ensure that strong privacy protections are included
in these agreements.
The City of Seattle is currently negotiating a new franchise agreement with
TCI of Seattle, Inc., and the ACLU of Washington urged the city to include
provisions to protect consumer privacy. In a letter dated November 9th,
ACLU-W said that "franchisees should be prohibited from collecting any data
on individual use of the cable network, including Internet access, except
that data minimally needed for billing purposes. . . . [T]he franchisee
should be precluded from collecting information about which other Internet
sites are accessed through the cable network, which newsgroups are read,
which real-time interactive forums are participated in, or any other
information that could be used to compile a data profile of the subscriber."
The letter also urged the city to require technological protections, like
encryption, to guard against unauthorized tapping.
For a copy of the letter, send a message to [email protected] with "cable
franchise agreement" in the subject line. For more information, contact Doug
Klunder, ACLU-W Information Technology Committee, [email protected].
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FEDERAL PAGE (Congress/Agency/Court Cases)
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* Watch Out for Cyber-Liberties Infringements in Counter-Terrorism
Legislation; House May Consider Bill in Early December
The House of Representatives is scheduled to debate a broad counter-terrorism
bill in early December. (The Senate passed a similar bill in June 1995.)
While the counter-terrorism bill contains many unconstitutional provisions,
the net community should be particularly alert to the following:
1. The pending House counter-terrorism bill contains a funding mechanism for
vastly expanded wiretap capabilities for federal law enforcement (authorized
by the Digital Telephony law passed by Congress last year). The FBI's scheme
would give government an unprecedented ability to intrude on privacy through
increased wiretaps. The net community should oppose this and any other
funding scheme for the FBI's wiretap proposal. (See our 11/8 issue of the
Cyber-Liberties Update for an ACLU statement and action alert on the federal
wiretap proposal.)
2. The version of counter-terrorism legislation already passed by the Senate
contains a revised Feinstein Amendment, which makes it a felony "to
distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the
manufacture of explosive materials, if the person intends, or knows that such
explosive materials or information will likely be used for" criminal
purposes. While the legislation applies to all media, it grew out of Senator
Feinstein's vilification of the Internet at the Senate's May 11th
counter-terrorism hearings. The House version of counter-terrorism
legislation does not currently contain language like the Feinstein Amendment,
but the online community should stand ready to oppose any effort to include
such unconstitutional provisions in the final House bill.
For a copy of the ACLU's letter to the Senate in opposition to the original
Feinstein Amendment, send a message to [email protected] with "Feinstein
Amendment" in the subject line.
For further information on the ACLU's opposition to counter-terrorism
legislation (which would also expand the FBI's powers in electronic
surveillance and other areas), visit the ACLU's Constitution Hall on America
Online, at keyword ACLU.
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* Update and ACTION ALERT on Federal Online Indecency Legislation
The Conference Committee on the telecommunications bill is currently
considering whether to remove provisions that would make "indecency" and
other speech a crime in cyberspace. The Christian Coalition and other
anti-free-speech groups continue to heavily lobby the Conferees to make the
new speech crimes even stricter than the Exon Amendment. To counter this
backlash, the online community must overwhelm the Conference Committee with a
loud and clear message -- that parental empowerment tools and not big
government censorship are the only effective means to address children's
access to online content.
While the Conference Committee is home for Thanksgiving, we urge you to call
the Conferees in your state. To find a list of the home office phone numbers
for the Conferees, see the current ACTION ALERT at http://www.vtw.org/
The ACLU continues to prepare for a constitutional challenge to the online
censorship provisions if they become law. Please contact Ann Beeson,
[email protected], if your organization is interested in being a plaintiff in
this ground-breaking litigation that will define First Amendment rights in
cyberspace.
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Online Discussion Groups on Electronic Access Issues
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The following discussion groups are actively debating government information
and access issues:
GOVPUB -- issues related to publishing local and state government information
online
Subscribe: [email protected]
Message: subscribe govpub
GOVACCESS -- citizen access to government information
Subscribe: [email protected]
Message: subscribe govaccess
PUBPOL-D -- substantive discussion of public policy issues
Subscribe: [email protected]
Message: subscribe pubpol-d [your name]
COMMUNET -- issues related to community and civic networks
Subscribe: [email protected]
Message: subscribe communet [your name]
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ONLINE RESOURCES FROM THE ACLU NATIONAL OFFICE
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Stay tuned for news on the ACLU's world wide web site, under construction at
http://www.aclu.org. America Online users should check out our live chats,
auditorium events, *very* active message boards, and complete news on civil
liberties, at keyword ACLU.
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ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update
Editor: Ann Beeson ([email protected])
American Civil Liberties Union National Office
132 West 43rd Street
New York, New York 10036
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