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The Senate's Internet "Election Freeze" (fwd) [nothing like infoming the
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 1994 06:44:49 -0400
Forwarded Message: Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 20:22:50 -0500 From: Scott Fritchie <fritchie () STOLAF EDU> Subject: The Senate's Internet "Election Freeze" Resent-Sender: rre-request () weber ucsd edu Hi everyone -- One day while surfing the World Wide Web, I'd run across a Web "home page" for Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA). [For those interested, the URL is "http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/Kennedy/homepage.html".] When I looked it up again the other day, I was dismayed to find this: Election Freeze =============== In compliance with regulations of the Senate Rules Committee for a Senator who is a candidate for any public office, no materials will be electronically posted to the Internet or other computer bulletin boards from Senator Kennedy's office between July 23rd and November 8th, Election Day. Senator Kennedy's WWW pages and FTP directories at M.I.T. are frozen, except for routine maintenance. The Senator's Gopher site and FTP archives at the Senate will also remain largely inactive. But, the Senator's electronic mail address (senator () kennedy senate gov) will remain active. I'm working on a project called Minnesota E-Democracy 1994, a non-partisan effort to provide the public with greater access to U.S. Senate and Minnesota governor campaign/election information in electronic form. I read this message about the freeze in amazement. Though Senator Durenberger (R-MN) is not running for re-election this year, would the freeze apply to Senate candidates? What's the scope of the Senate rules? What if we wanted to expand the scope of the project to cover US House of Reps races -- does the House have a similar rule? With so many questions buzzing in my mind, I had no choice: I sent an email note to Senator Kennedy's email address (above) and asked them all. I got a phone call a couple of days later from Chris Casey, a staffer in Senator Kennedy's office. He was *extremely* helpful in explaining things and sorting out what the Senate rules do and don't apply to. This is (arguably) the first election where electronic communication tools, such as those available on the Internet, will come into play. The Senate Rules Committee has a set of rules governing the use of these communication tools (attached below in full -- thanks Chris!) which apply to all standing members of the Senate. The "election freeze" mentioned in Senator Kennedy's Web home page is a reaction to a Senate rule prohibiting: 1. mailings of unsolicited email (Snailmail? My notes are unclear) totalling 500 messages or more 2. use of Senate facilities, such as sound recording studios, ... 60 days prior to an election (general, primary, or runoff). The Senate gopher server, gopher.senate.gov, since it is an official "facility", is covered by the rule, and therefore its use during the next 60 days by Senator Kennedy is prohibited. Senator Kennedy's Web home page, it should be noted, is *not* being served by the Senate's Gopher server, freeing it (technically) from Senate rules. In order to comply with the spirit of the rules, however, Senator Kennedy has agreed to comply with the 60 day ban on all electronic "publishing" services: the Senate Gopher, the home page (and related documents) on MIT's Web server, and the Massachusetts BBS system (dunno the name, sorry) where much of his material distributed. [An interesting side note: according to Chris (and my notes), the Senate Rules Committee was going do pull the plug on the *entire* Senate Gopher on of September 9th (or thereabouts). That's the day where the 60 day ban would affect 1/3 of all Senate members, due to upcoming elections. Poof! No more Gopher server, period. Chris said he had to wage a tremendous fight to avoid the shutdown. The compromise is the replacement of all individual Senator information with the single menu entry "Notification - 7/28/94". Retrieval of that file simply states "Senate policy restricts a Senator's use of the Senate Internet servers during the sixty days before an election." The Gopher server and its documents on Senate committees should be up and running through the elections.] The directories at the House of Representatives's Gopher server, gopher.house.gov, for individual members all point to Gopher servers at universities (presumably) within their districts. (Six Representatives are listed there.) Chris doesn't know of any similar restrictions on House franking privileges with respect to the House's Gopher server. Even if the House had the same rules as the Senate, would that mean the the House Gopher would have to remove the pointers to information stored off-site & unrestricted by the rule? {Chuckle} So, with the House taking a laissez faire approach to member use of the Internet, what's stopping members from renting Web- and Gopherspace via name-your-favorite-Internet-service-provider-here? Not much, it seems, other than perhaps ignorance. And what's keeping Senators from doing the same thing? With Senator Kennedy, it's a desire to honor the spirit of the Senate rules. How many other Senators will decide *not* to do the same thing? Or, how long will it take before the Senate Rules Committee amends its rules to limit explicitly its 60 day ban to official Senate electronic facilities? Or, at the very least, allow members to distribute their information electronically through public service projects like Minnesota E-Democracy? Following this story of the Senate's struggle with new tools has definitely been interesting. {Hearty laugh} Feel free to redistribute it, keeping in mind this is about 265 lines long. -Scott P.S. Aside note: I've heard rumors that addressing messages to "senator_lastname () lastname senate gov" now works for all Senators, but I haven't tested it yet. P.P.S. For more information about the Minnesota E-Democracy project, send email to "E-Democracy () Free-Net Mpls-StPaul MN US". P.P.S. Full text of (some) Senate rules follows --- Scott Fritchie, UNIX Systems Manager Secretary: Academic Computing Center, St. Olaf College Twin Cities Free-Net 1510 St. Olaf Ave., Northfield, MN 55057 Organizing Committee fritchie () stolaf edu ... 507/646.3407 (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) "Activism is the killer app for the net." -- Steven Cherry <stc () panix com> --- snip --- snip --- snip --- snip --- snip --- snip --- snip --- snip --- U.S. SENATE FTP SERVER USAGE RULES AND POLICIES I. Policy A. Purpose 1. The United States Senate FTP Server ("FTP Server") will provide read- only access to information files Senate offices may choose to make available to the general public. It is the policy of the Senate that the privilege of using the FTP Server be established in these rules in order to assist and expedite the conduct of the official business, activities, and duties of the United States Senate. 2. It is not the intention of the Senate that the FTP Server be used as a repository for official records. Official records such as those produced by the Secretary of the Senate are not to be placed on the FTP Server unless otherwise approved by the Secretary of the Senate and prepared in accordance with Section 501 of Title 44 of the United States Code. Such records include, but are not limited to: bills, public laws, committee reports, and other legislative materials. B. Scope 1. The Vice President, each Member of the Senate, the Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, Senate Committees, the Legislative Counsel of the Senate, and the Senate Legal Counsel may transmit to the FTP Server information files which contain matter relating to their official business, activities, and duties, as intended by the Senate and set forth in subsections C, D, and E. 2. If a vacancy occurs in the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, the Legislative Counsel of the Senate, or the Senate Legal Counsel any authorized person may exercise the FTP Server Privilege in the officer's name during the period of the vacancy. C. Materials Which May Be Placed on the FTP Server 1. It is the intent of the Senate that matters which may be transmitted to the FTP Server specifically include, but are not limited to: (a) matter regarding programs, decisions, and other related materials of public concern or public service, including any matter relating to actions of a past or current Congress; (b) the usual and customary Senate newsletter or press release which may deal with such matters as the impact of laws and decisions on State and local governments and individual citizens; reports on public and official actions taken by Members of Congress; and discussions of proposed or pending legislation or governmental actions and the positions of the Members of Congress on, and arguments for or against, such matters; (c) the usual and customary congressional questionnaire seeking public opinion on any law, pending or proposed legislation, public issue, or subject; (d) matter which consists of voter registration or election information or assistance prepared in a nonpartisan manner; (e) matter which constitutes or includes a biography or autobiography of any Senator, or any biographical or autobiographical material concerning such Senator or the spouse or other members of the family of such Senator; (f) matter which constitutes or includes a personnel directory or similar information about a Senator's office. D. Materials Which May Not Be Placed on the FTP Server 1. It is the intent of the Senate that matters which may not be transmitted to the FTP Server specifically include, but are not limited to: (a) Personal Matter (i) matter which in its nature is purely personal and is unrelated to the official business, activities, and duties of the public officials; (ii) matter which constitutes or includes any article, account, sketch, narration, or other text laudatory and complimentary of any Senator on a purely personal or political basis rather than on the basis of performance of official duties as a Senator; (iii) reports of how or when such Senator or the spouse or any other member of the family of such Senator spends time other than in the performance of, or in connection with, the legislative, representative, and other official functions of such Senator; (iv) any transmission expressing holiday greetings from a Senator. This prohibition does not preclude an expression of holiday greetings at the commencement or conclusion of an otherwise proper transmission. (b) Political Matter (i) matter which specifically solicits political support for the sender or any other person or any political party, or a vote or financial assistance for any candidate for any political office; (ii) matter which mentions that the Senator or an employee of a Senator is a candidate for political office, or which constitutes electioneering, or which advocates the election or defeat of any individuals, or a political party. The use of the political designation "D" or "R" when used for purposes of party identification in an otherwise proper transmission is not prohibited. (c) Solicitation of Funds (i) no solicitation of funds for any purpose may be made on the FTP Server. E. Restrictions on the Use of the FTP Server Prior to an Election 1. No Member may place or keep on the FTP Server any matter, except personnel directories, during the 60 day period immediately before the date of any primary or general election (whether regular, special, or runoff) for any national, state, or local office in which the Senator is a candidate for election. 2. No Member may place or keep on the FTP Server any matter, except personnel directories, during the 60 day period immediately before the date of a biennial general Federal election. III. Responsibilities 1. The FTP Server privilege is the personal responsibility of each Senator. While individual employees within the office of a Senator have the day-to-day use of the FTP Server as directed by the Senator, it remains the responsibility of the Senator to oversee the use of the FTP Server privilege by his or her office and to ensure that the use of the privilege is consistent with the requirements established by statute, these rules, the Standing Rules of the Senate, Interpretative Rulings of the Select Committee on Ethics, Regulations established by the Committee on Rules and Administration, and any other applicable statutes, regulations, and rules of the Senate. An improper use of the FTP Server will be imputed to the employing Senator under most circumstances. To help avoid violations, Senators should provide for the training and supervision of employees and their familiarization with these regulations. 2. As with the use of other Internet services by Senate offices, the "Acceptable Use Policy" of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) NSFNET "backbone" is applicable to all Senate use of the FTP Server. This policy (see Attachment I) governs all uses of Internet services traversing the network backbone provided in the United States by the NSF. ------------------------------ -- http://www.eff.org/~mech/mech.html"> Stanton McCandlish <HR>mailto:mech () eff org"> mech () eff org <P>http://www.eff.org/"> Electronic Frontier Fndtn. <P>http://www.eff.org/~mech/a.html"> Online Activist
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