Net Results: elections and the Internet, from The Netly News

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 15:28:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
Subject: Net Results: elections and the Internet, from The Netly News

[I recommend that you visit The Netly News to read the article with the
links -- I wrote it with a web audience in mind. --Declan]

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The Netly News
November 6, 1996
http://netlynews.com/

Net Results
By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)
   
        Nineteen ninety-six was to have been the Year of the Netizen.
   Bob Dole this spring endorsed strong crypto, making it a likely
   campaign issue. The Communications Decency Act was accelerating
   toward the Supreme Court. Every political candidate sported a web
   page. The First Cat and the Dole Dog were online. Electronic mailing
   lists such as Netizens-l were springing up as symbols of netizens'
   hope to start wielding power over the body politic.
   
        It didn't happen. Yesterday's election largely preserves the
   status quo: a Clinton White House and a Republican Congress. Matters
   important to netizens never became campaign issues. Sure, Bill
   Clinton may have pledged to wire all schools to the Net, but election
   year rhetoric is cheap and realizing his plan will be expensive.
   Dole's stammering announcement of his web site's address demonstrated
   only his lack of a cyber-clue.
   
        Yet with the election, the political terrain has shifted subtly.
   Sen. Jim Exon (D-Neb.), architect of the CDA, has retired. The
   leadership of the powerful Senate Commerce, Science, and
   Transportation Committee will change. Attorney General Janet Reno,
   who has attacked the Net repeatedly, may step down or be replaced.
   Even with a slimmer majority, Republicans in the House likely will
   continue to resist hasty "anti-terrorist" measures and remain unlikely
   champions of online liberties. Some civil libertarians hope that
   Clinton will emerge as a statesman who for the first time does not fear
   defeat at the hands of voters. 

   CYBER-RIGHTS DARLING RICK WHITE WINS REELECTION: Fighting against
   Internet regulation may keep the campaign checks from Bill Gates
   coming, but Washington State voters would rather talk about the
   environment. Still, cyber-rights champion and Newt Gingrich fan Rep.
   Rick White (R-Washington) narrowly won his first re-election bid
   yesterday. It's bad news for the environment and good news for
   netizens. As a sophomore rep, White will be in a better position to
   shepherd pro-cyberspace legislation through the House next year.

   LEADERSHIP OF SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE CHANGES: Larry Pressler
   (R-South Dakota) ended an 18-year Senate career yesterday when he lost
   to challenger Tim Johnson, a House Democrat. Now the chairmanship of
   the powerful Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee --
   which handles telecommunications and Internet bills -- is in flux,
   with Arizona's John McCain the likely successor. "McCain is an unknown
   quantity. He voted for the CDA and supported crypto without being out
   in front on it," says Jonah Seiger from the Center for Democracy and
   Technology.
   
   SENATOR JOHN KERRY, TECHNO-FRIENDLY WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING:
   Although we may not agree with all of Massachusetts incumbent Sen.
   Kerry's positions on Net freedom, he at least recognizes Netizens as
   an important constituency. His vote in favor of the CDA seemed a
   strike against Netizens until he vociferously modified it to say that
   such matters should be handled by parents rather than the law. Kerry
   was the only Senator to answer the Voters Telecommunications Watch
   Pledge, a political platform for the technological public, and now
   that he's been reelected we should remind him of just what that pledge
   means. As a senator representing high-tech firms and sitting on the
   Commerce and Intelligence committees, Kerry is well-positioned to back
   up his email with his votes.
   
   ONLINE COPYRIGHT BILL LOSES CHAMPIONS: Free speech on the Net may
   get a reprieve in the next Congress, thanks to the retirement of Reps.
   Carlos Moorhead (R-California) and Patricia Schroeder (D-Colorado).
   The duo championed the heinous NII Copyright Protection Act of 1995,
   which would hold Internet providers financially liable for the actions
   of their users and make browsing the Net without a license from
   copyright holders against the law. With librarians, PTA groups, and
   teachers arguing against it, the legislation died in committee this
   summer.
   
   IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND FCC NEXT YEAR: Brace yourself for more steamy
   Net-rhetoric from Al Gore, who will take a more prominent role as
   administration spokesperson on technology and telecom issues as he
   prepares for a presidential bid in 2000. Inside the White House,
   failed health care czar Ira Magaziner has turned his attention towards
   online commerce. Sensing a possible growth opportunity, the FCC has
   started to take an interest in Internet regulation -- and Clinton now
   will appoint a commissioner to fill a vacancy at the FCC. With
   Naderites like Jamie Love calling for FCC regulation of spam,
   bureaucratic meddling seems near-inevitable.

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