Dear Museum-L Colleagues,
The following efforts are being undertaken to protest the latest
"indecency" clauses that have been passed by the House conference committee
working on new Telecommunications reform legislation in Congress.
Tuesday, December 12, is being designated as an "Internet Day of Protest".
Please try to call one of the COngressmen listed below (especially if they
are your representative) on December 12 to register your complaints about
the dangers of censorship in this medium.
The following "call for protest" cites libraries being prohibited from
putting "Catcher in the Rye" online, etc. But museums have equal, if not
greater, cause for concern: it is only one small step from "controversial"
text to "controversial" images (Michelangelo? Ingres?) or other works
deemed "indecent". We all have a stake in getting this extreme blunder out
of the legislation.
Thanks for your efforts.
Diane Zorich
Government Affairs Liaison
Museum Computer Network
---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Sat, 9 Dec 1995 00:33:18 -0500 (EST)
>From: Shabbir J. Safdar <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: (ALERT) INTERNET DAY OF PROTEST TUESDAY DECEMBER 12, 1995
>
>========================================================================
> CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS
>
> On Tuesday December 12, 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 December 20, 1995
>________________________________________________________________________
>CONTENTS
> Internet Day of Protest: Tuesday December 12, 1995
> What You Must Do On Tuesday December 12, 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 Tuesday December 12, 1995.
>
>As you know, on Wednesday December 6, 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 Tuesday December 12, 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 Tuesday December 12, 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: Monday, December 11, 1995 12:00 - 1:00 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 [log in to unmask] 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
> [log in to unmask]
> 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
> [log in to unmask]
> 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
> [log in to unmask]
> 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
> [log in to unmask]
> R SD Pressler, Larry 1-202-224-5842 1-202-224-1259
> [log in to unmask]
> R WA Gorton, Slade 1-202-224-3441 1-202-224-9393
> [log in to unmask]
> D WV Rockefeller, John D. 1-202-224-6472 n.a.
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Dist ST Name, Address, and Party Phone Fax
> ==== == ======================== ============== ==============
> 6 GA Gingrich, Newt (R) 1-202-225-4501 1-202-225-4656
> 2428 RHOB [log in to unmask]
> 14 MI Conyers Jr., John (D) 1-202-225-5126 1-202-225-0072
> 2426 RHOB [log in to unmask]
> 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 9 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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