Electronic Freedom press release

[LibertyWMA@aol.com]

-----------------------------------------------
NEWS FROM THE 
   MASSACHUSETTS LIBERTARIAN ASSOCIATION
-----------------------------------------------

For Immediate Release

   For Additional Information

   John Brickner
   Electronic Outreach Director
   Massachusetts Libertarian Association
   LibertyWMA@aol.com

----------------------------------------------------

Phillies Endorses Electronic Freedom

George Phillies, Libertarian Party candidate for the U. S. Senate in
Massachusetts, today condemned the so-called Communications Decency Act --
the Internet Censorship Act --and called for its immediate repeal.  Phillies,
a resident of Worcester, will face incumbent Senator John Kerry and Governor
William Weld in the fall election.  He further called for
elimination of controls that are strangling our computer export industry. 

Phillies explained his stand on Electronic Freedoms:  'There is no freedom
more fundamental than freedom of speech, and electronic speech is speech.
 When Congress passes a law against undefined 'indecent' speech, it threatens
all speech.  When Congress extended the Comstock Law to electronic media, it
forbade discussion of abortion by pro-life as well as
pro-choice supporters.  Of course, the Clinton Justice Department says it
won't enforce the Comstock Act.  But what will happen in 1997 if the Buchanan
Justice Department replaces the Clinton Justice Department? 

Export restrictions on software are hurting the computer industry.  Let us
have a reality check here.  PGP and other strong encryption algorithms are
freely available in Europa, Asia, and Africa.  The only companies being hurt
by export restrictions on software are American companies.  The only
people being hurt by export restrictions are American programmers and
manufacturers.  Export restrictions on encryption and other software are
hurting us, while stopping no one from encrypting their data.  The
Libertarian Party supports free trade in computer software, and so do I! 

Export restrictions on computer hardware are even worse, because those
restrictions are a de facto subsidy from the U.S. government to foreign
hardware producers.  When a foreign producer can manufacture a high power
computer, and an American producer cannot export one to compete in the
free market, it is the foreign producer who profits, and American designers,
workers, and shareholders who takes it in the chin.  We have enough
challenges from foreign competition now; we don't need our American
government helping our foreign competitors. 

I have long supported electronic speech and publication as
Constitutionally protected forms of speech and press.  When the Secret
Service raided Steve Jackson Games to suppress publication of 'Hacker' I
immediately wrote Congress to protest. I argued

200 hundred years ago, King George's Hessian mercenaries raided colonial
printers to scattered their typecases; now, Federal agents destroyed
electronic font files.  The physical format of the type was different, but
the act was the same. 

30 years ago, Russian police raided homes of Russian dissidents, destroying
hand-typed samizdat; now, Federal agents destroyed magnetically-stored
manuscripts of a game. The physical format of the manuscript was the
different, but the act was the same. 

In the end, of course, word went out across the Net -- Justice was served.
 Steve Jackson had won his lawsuit.  

'Finally, I remind all computer users, programmers, and designers: Liberty is
indivisible!  By standing together to protect all Constitutional Rights, not
just the ones closest and dearest to our hearts, we make every Right safer.
 We all need to support the whole Bill of Rights, not just the parts that
liberals or Republicans find convenient. 

Support the whole Bill of Rights.  Support Your Electronic Freedom.  Register
and vote Libertarian. 

--------------------------30----------------

Background information

The Libertarian Party is one of Massachusetts' three legally-recognized major
political parties.  Libertarians stand in the dynamic center of the political
spectrum: conservative on fiscal issues, pro-freedom on social issues.  To
place candidates before the voters, Libertarians must satisfy
precisely the same laws that will allow Democrats and Republicans to put
Kerry and Weld on the ballot.  In 1994, a Libertarian running for statewide
office in Massachusetts received over 3% of the vote, more than the
difference between Kerry and Weld in a recent poll. 

------------------------------------------

For Additional Information:
  Contact the Candidate Himself:
  George Phillies
  Massachusetts Libertarian Association
    87-6 Park Avenue
    Worcester MA 01605
  508-831-5334 (w) (Yes, he has a real job.)
  508-754-1859 (h)
  phillies@wpi.edu

--------------------30--------------------------- 

Candidate Biographical Data 

George Phillies was born July 23, 1947 in Buffalo, New York, first son of
Eustace G. Phillies, M.D.(deceased) and Clara Phillies.  Phillies grew up in
Kenmore and Williamsville, New York, finished as salutatorian at the
Williamsville Central High School [now Williamsville North], and came to
M.I.T.  in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  While at MIT, Phillies earned
degrees of Bachelor of Science in physics and in life sciences, as well as
Master of Science and (in 1973) Doctor of Science degrees in physics.
 Phillies then joined the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program
as a researcher. 

In 1971, Phillies joined the United States Army Reserves, eventually rising
to the rank of Specialist, 5th Class, in a Boston unit, the 338th Medical
Detachment; he received an honorable discharge in 1977. 

In 1975, Phillies moved to California, working as a postdoctoral fellow in
the U.C.L.A. Chemistry department and living in Santa Monica.  Phillies in
1978 moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was employed as an Assistant
Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan.  In 1985, after
declining alternatives at nationally-known schools, Phillies moved to the
prestigious Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he rose to the rank of
Professor in the Department of Physics.  Phillies is recognized
internationally for his scientific studies of light scattering, soaps, and
polymer solutions.  Phillies, 48, never married, rents a townhouse in
Worcester, Massachusetts, a block from the WPI Campus. 

In 1994, the Libertarian Party gained major-party status in Massachusetts.
 Phillies has participated actively in Libertarian Party organizing efforts
in Central and Western Massachusetts.  In 1996, he was elected Executive
Director of the Massachusetts Libertarian Association. 




The Bill of Rights:  "I support the whole Bill of Rights, not just the
convenient parts.  I support the freedom of unpopular speech, the freedom to
practice uncommon religions, freedom for consenting adults in the privacy of
their homes, freedom of privacy via exportable strong encryption."

------------------------------------------------