Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00043)

> From: Michael Powell <73140.1517@compuserve.com>
> Subject: very important "big"brother action
>
> RE: very important "big"brother action

CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS
On 191212 1995 Join With Hundreds of Thousands
Of Your Fellow Internet Users In
A NATIONAL INTERNET DAY OF PROTEST
PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT
REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL 192012 1995
________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
Internet Day of Protest: 191212 1995
What You Must Do On 191212 1995
List of Participating Organizations
Where Can I Learn More?
________________________________________________________________________
INTERNET DAY OF PROTEST: TUESDAY DECEMBER 12 1995
Outrageous proposals to censor the Internet demand that the Internet
Community take swift and immediate action. We must stand up and let
Congress know that we will not tolerate their attempts to destroy this
medium! Please join hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens in a
National Day of Protest on 191212 1995.
As you know on Dec 06 1995 the House Conference
Committee on Telecommunications Reform voted to impose far reaching and
unconstitutional "indecency" restrictions on the Internet and other
interactive media including large commercial online services such as
America Online Compuserve and Prodigy and smaller Internet Service
Providers such as Panix the Well Echo and Mindvox.
These restrictions threaten the very existence of the Internet and
interactive media as a viable medium for free expression education
commerce. If enacted the Internet as we know it will never be the
same.
Libraries will not be able to put any books online that might
offend a child somewhere. No "Catcher in the Rye" or "Ulysses" on the net.
Internet Service Providers could face criminal penalties for allowing
children to subscribe to their Internet Services forcing many small
companies to simply refuse to sell their services to anyone under 18. Worst
of all everything you say and publish on the net will have to be "dumbed
down" to that which is acceptable to a child.
As Internet users we simply must not allow this assault against the
Internet and our most basic freedoms to go unchallenged.
On 191212 the organizations below are urging you to
join us in a NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST. The goal is to flood key members of
the House and Senate with phone calls faxes and email with the message
that the Internet community WILL NOT TOLERATE Congressional attempts to
destroy the Internet limit our freedoms and trample on our rights.
Below are the phone fax and email address of several key members of
Congress on this issue and instructions on what you can do to join the
National Day of Protest to save the Net.
______________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU MUST DO ON TUESDAY DECEMBER 12 1995
1. Throughout the day 191212 please contact as many
members of Congress on the list below as you can. If you are only
able to make one call contact House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Finally
if the Senator or Representative from your state is on the list
below be sure to contact him or her also.
2. Urge each Member of Congress to "stop the madness". Tell them that
they are about to pass legislation that will destroy the Internet as
an educational and commercial medium. If you are at a loss for
words try the following sample communique:
Sample phone call:
Both the House and Senate bills designed to protect children
from objectionable material on the Internet will actually
destroy the Internet as an medium for education commerce and
political discourse. There are other less restrictive ways to
address this issue.
I urge you to oppose both measures being proposed in the
conference committee. This is an important election issue to
me.
Sample letter fax or email:
The Senate conferees are considering ways to protect children
from inappropriate material on the Internet. A vote for either
the House or Senate proposals will result in the destruction of
the Internet as a viable medium for free expression education
commerce. Libraries will not be able to put their entire book
collections online. Everyday people like me will risk massive
fines and prison sentences for public discussions someone s
somewhere might consider "indecent".
There are other less restrictive ways to protect children from
objectionable material online. This is an important election
issue to me.
3. If you're in San Francisco or near enough to get there go to
the Rally Against Censorship from Ground Zero of the Digital Revolution:
WHEN: 191112 1995 120000 - 01:00 PM
WHERE: South Park between 2nd and 3rd Bryant and Brannon San Francisco.
SPEAKERS: To be announced
BRING: Attention-grabbing posters signs and banners that demonstrate
your committment to free speech and expression and your feelings
about Congress.
FOR UPDATED INFORMATION including rain info:
http://www.hotwired.com/staff/digaman/
### THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT ###
4. Mail a note to protest@vtw.org to let us know you did your part.
Although you will not receive a reply due to the number of
anticipated responses we'll be counting up the number of people that
participated in the day of protest.
P ST Name and Address Phone Fax
= == ======================== ============== ==============
R AK Stevens Ted 1-202-224-3004 1-202-224-1044
R AZ McCain John 1-202-224-2235 1-602-952-8702
senator_mccain@mccain.senate.gov
D HI Inouye Daniel K. 1-202-224-3934 1-202-224-6747
R KS Dole Robert 1-202-224-6521 1-202-228-1245
D KY Ford Wendell H. 1-202-224-4343 1-202-224-0046
wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov
R MS Lott Trent 1-202-224-6253 1-202-224-2262
R MT Burns Conrad R. 1-202-224-2644 1-202-224-8594
conrad_burns@burns.senate.gov
D NE Exon J. J. 1-202-224-4224 1-202-224-5213
D SC Hollings Ernest F. 1-202-224-6121 1-202-224-4293
senator@hollings.senate.gov
R SD Pressler Larry 1-202-224-5842 1-202-224-1259
larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov
R WA Gorton Slade 1-202-224-3441 1-202-224-9393
senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov
D WV Rockefeller John D. 1-202-224-6472 n.a.
senator@rockefeller.senate.gov
Dist ST Name Address and Party Phone Fax
==== == ======================== ============== ==============
6 GA Gingrich Newt R 1-202-225-4501 1-202-225-4656
2428 RHOB georgia6@hr.house.gov
14 MI Conyers Jr. John D 1-202-225-5126 1-202-225-0072
2426 RHOB jconyers@hr.house.gov
1 CO Schroeder Patricia D 1-202-225-4431 1-202-225-5842
2307 RHOB
18 TX Jackson-Lee Sheila D 1-202-225-3816 1-202-225-3317
1520 LHOB
6 TN Gordon Bart D 1-202-225-4231 1-202-225-6887
2201 RHOB
4. Forward this alert to all of your wired friends.
________________________________________________________________________
WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?
At this moment there are several organizations with WWW sites that now
have or will have information about the net censorship legislation and
the National Day Of Protest:
American Civil Liberties Union ftp://ftp.aclu.org/aclu/
Center for Democracy and Technology http://www.cdt.org/
Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org/
Electronic Privacy Information Center http://www.epic.org/
Wired Magazine http://www.hotwired.com/special/indecent/
Voters Telecommunications Watch http://www.vtw.org/
________________________________________________________________________
LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
In order to use the net more effectively several organizations have
joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the
Communications Decency Act.
American Civil Liberties Union * American Communication Association *
American Council for the Arts * Arts & Technology Society * Association
of Alternative Newsweeklies * biancaTroll productions * Boston
Coalition for Freedom of Expression * Californians Against Censorship
Together * Center For Democracy And Technology * Centre for Democratic
Communications * Center for Public Representation * Citizen's Voice -
New Zealand * Cloud 09 Internet *Computer Communicators Association *
Computel Network Services * Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility * Cross Connection * Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer
Lounge * Dorsai Embassy * Dutch Digital Citizens' Movement * ECHO
Communications Group Inc. * Electronic Frontier Canada * Electronic
Frontier Foundation * Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin *
Electronic Frontiers Australia * Electronic Frontiers Houston *
Electronic Frontiers New Hampshire * Electronic Privacy Information
Center * Feminists For Free Expression * First Amendment Teach-In *
Florida Coalition Against Censorship * FranceCom Inc. Web Advertising
Services * Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands
Off! The Net * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle Technologies Inc. *
Inst. for Global Communications * Internet On-Ramp Inc. * Internet
Users Consortium * Joint Artists' and Music Promotions Political Action
Committee * The Libertarian Party * Marijuana Policy Project *
Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * MindVox * MN Grassroots Party *
National Bicycle Greenway * National Campaign for Freedom of Expression
* National Coalition Against Censorship * National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force * National Public Telecomputing Network * National Writers Union
* Oregon Coast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet * People for the
American Way * Republican Liberty Caucus * Rock Out Censorship *
Society for Electronic Access * The Thing International BBS Network *
The WELL * Voters Telecommunications Watch
Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities
not EFF chapters or divisions.
________________________________________________________________________
End Alert
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