The Big Sellout

[Declan McCullagh <declan@vorlon.mit.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 22:25:50 -0400
From: Michael Sims <jellicle@inch.com>
To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
Cc: jberman@cdt.org, jseiger@cdt.org
Subject: The Big Sellout

It's here.


http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9707/15/cybersmut.ap/index.html

Computer industry to announce anti-smut initiatives

July 15, 1997 Web posted at: 9:59 p.m. EDT (0159 GMT) 
[20 minutes ago.  I'm  quick, aren't I?]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hoping to avoid a V-chip for the Internet, the
computer industry will announce at the White House on Wednesday it
will provide greater access to anti-smut software and work to flag
Internet sites that are clean enough for kids. 

Weeks after the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a law
designed to keep cyberspace's seedy side away from children, the White
House is urging the computer industry and parent's groups to take
such voluntary steps to make the Internet safe for youngsters. 

"We don't need to reinvent the wheel here and we don't need a V-chip
for the Internet. We have tools out there which are 100 percent
available," said Jerry Berman of the Center for Democracy and
Technology, a group that works to protect computer users' civil
liberties. They just need to be more widely used and understood, he
said. 

President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, a computer enthusiast,
will host the private meeting Wednesday. About 30 to 40 people are
expected, including representatives from America Online, Netscape
Communications Corp., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo! Inc., the National
Parent Teacher Association, the American Library Association, makers
of screening technology and electronic civil liberties groups. 

The White House has said it wants a solution "as powerful for the
computer as the V-chip will be for the television that protects
children in ways that are consistent with America's free-speech
values." 

Instead of seeking new legislation to force the computer industry to
shield children from Internet smut, the Clinton administration is
pushing voluntary ideas. 

That's welcome news for the industry and electronic civil liberties
groups, which fought to overturn anti-smut provisions in the 1996
telecommunications law. 

"It's a very positive thing to try to come up with a constructive
alternative to legislation," said Andrew Schwartzman, president of
the Media Access Project, a nonprofit media watchdog group. 

No final industry-wide voluntary plan is expected to be announced
Wednesday, but some companies are expected to unveil plans. 

For instance, Netscape Communications is expected to announce it will
back a software standard that allows people, using a Web browser,
either to block or select certain Web sites based on their electronic
labels, said industry and government sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity. Netscape did not return a phone call for comment. 

Microsoft Corp.'s Explorer browser already uses the standard, dubbed
PICS, which can work with more than one labeling or ratings system.
Parents using a browser with the PICS technology could, for example,
call up Web sites designated to be "family friendly" or they could
block sites labeled as violent or sex-filled. 

The Center for Democracy and Technology, meanwhile, is supposed to
debut a Web page that would give parents information on how and
where to get free smut-screening software, Berman said. 

The center estimates all of the major providers of Internet access
to consumers offer screening technology for free or at a nominal
cost. Those providers cover 14 million households, and include AOL,
AT&T WorldNet, CompuServe, Prodigy and Erol's. 

The American Library Association is working on a broader effort. It
has compiled a listing of family friendly Web sites parents can
access separately or through its Web page, said spokeswoman Joyce
Kelly. The listing will be updated and expanded, she said. 

And Microsystems Software Inc., maker of Cyber Patrol, a widely used
screening software, is expected to unveil new technology to make it
easier for owners to label their Web sites, a company representative
said. 

"We're heartened that the industry is taking steps on its own," said
Patty Yoxall, spokeswoman for the National PTA. "We prefer voluntary
efforts over government intervention." 

White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed
that in addition to the voluntary efforts for indecent or smutty
content, the government still will enforce vigorously provisions
making illegal any obscene materials carried on the Internet. 

The Supreme Court upheld that provision of the 1996 law on June 26,
even as it overturned provisions aimed at restricting children's
access to indecent online materials. 

Copyright 1997   The Associated Press. All rights reserved.