Re: CDT and the Threat of Gov't Intervention

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

Danny, I may respond in more detail to your post shortly (I'm supposed to
be working on an article right now), but I wanted to ask you: 

Does CDT consider itself to be a "civil liberties" group?

If so, how do you reconcile that stance with CDT director Jerry Berman's
statements this week and elsewhere that we need to "balance free speech" 
and "balance civil liberties" with other concerns?

If so, how do you reconcile this with your anti-civil liberties
"compromises" on issues like wiretapping, the "harmful to minors" version
of the CDA you supported, and the "crypto in a crime" jail penalties you
continue to support?

CDT seems to take positions that are often much closer to business
lobbyists than civil liberties groups. Now, I don't mind business
lobbyists -- I'm friends with many of them and I talk with them every day
-- but I want to be clear on your position. 

-Declan


On Wed, 3 Dec 1997, Daniel J. Weitzner wrote:

> At 12:45 AM -0500 12/3/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> >Besides demonstrating that cyberporn is a topic that will
> >never disappear, the Kids and the Net summit has
> >highlighted the tensions between the different types of
> >Net-advocacy groups here in Washington.
> >
> >The civil liberties groups (ACLU, EPIC, EFF, CPSR), and
> >journalism, publishers, and media groups have lined up on
> >one side [http://www.ifea.org/] saying the government
> >shouldn't pressure the Internet to self-censor (or be
> >censored by the Feds). They held a counter-summit press
> >conference yesterday. Even the libertarian Cato Institute
> >is in this corner.
> >
> >On the other side, the Center for Democracy and Technology
> >[http://www.cdt.org/] is participating in the summit along
> >with antiporn groups, high tech firms, and "censorware"
> >vendors.
> 
> Declan,
> 
> Life would indeed be dull without tensions, but it's important to have a
> clear picture of what's going on in the tension over filtering.
> 
> Somehow you have filtered out a few groups on what you call the "other
> side."  Even though your was present for much of the Summit, you neglected
> to mention important participants in the Summit including:
> 
> People for the American Way, one of the nation's leading civil liberties groups
> American Library Association
> Media Access Project
> 
> These groups are some of the leading defends of free expression in the
> country, so I'm not sure why you left them out.
> 
> In a statement issued at the Summit, People For the American Way's
> President said: "We do not want an Internet where lawmakers and
> corporations have decided for us what the best filtering method is, but
> neither do we advocate a 'Wild West' where any safeguard is called
> intrusive.  We stand for traditional democratic principles like freedom of
> expression and freedom of choice, and as such we believe that families
> shold have an array of choices about how best to guide their children."
> 
> CDT shares this view with People For and is committed to assuring that:
> 
> 1) the Net does not become dominated by a single rating system;
> 2) that the choice to filter or not is always up to parents, not
> governments; and,
> 3) anyone using filters has full knowledge of the filtering criteria used.
> 
> Painting this as CDT vs. all other civil libertarians may be convenient,
> but it's wrong.  I do thank you for acknowledging, at least, the CDT is
> committed to a diversity of options.
> 
> We'll have more to say about what happened at the Summit in a day or so.
> We welcome the debate over the desirability of filtering, and various
> approaches to the issue can go on, but it isn't served by misleading
> characterizations.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> ============================================================================
> * Value Your Privacy? The Government Doesn't.  Say 'No' to Key Escrow! *
>             Adopt Your Legislator -  http://www.crypto.com/adopt
> 
> 				-------------
> 
> Daniel J. Weitzner, Deputy Director                       <djw@cdt.org>
> Center for Democracy and Technology                       202.637.9800 (v)
> 1634 Eye St., NW Suite 1100                               202-637.0968 (f)
> Washington, DC 20006                                      http://www.cdt.org/
>                    
> 
> 
> 
>