IP: New US Censorship Law Causes Global Concern

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 1998
18:30 GMT
New US Censorship Law Causes Global Concern

LEEDS, UK (international distribution) - An international coalition has
criticised Internet censorship legislation about to be adopted in the
United States.

In a statement issued today, the Global Internet Liberty Campaign
stated that "any restrictive action taken by the United States
government would not only fail to prevent the distribution of material
to users in the local jurisdiction, but constitute a direct assault on
the rights and other interests of Internet users, consumers and
producers of content in other jurisdictions, who are not subject to
the Child Online Protection Act."

The Global Internet Liberty Campaign is a coalition of international
organisations founded in 1996 to defend civil liberties and human
rights on the Internet and it has more than 40 members worldwide.

25 members of the global coalition signed the statement which was sent
to the Clinton Administration as an open letter.

Yaman Akdeniz, director of Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK),
signing the GILC statement said that:

"So far the main dangers and threats for cyber-speech came from the
land of free speech - the United States. Censorious legislation such
as the CDA and CDA II would set up a dangerous precedent for similar
legislation in modern and developing societies including the UK."

"This piece of legislation goes further than regulating the adult
industry which already provides the `use of a credit card, debit
account, adult access code, or adult personal identification numbers.'
The real goal of the proponents of this legislation is to make it
difficult for the circulation of legal content on the Internet with
creating unnecessary burdens for the industry and by violating the
privacy of consumers with identification tools."

Erich Moechel, Administrator of the Quintessenz group in Austria
added:

"Those Europeans who have watched the smashing of the 1996 version of
the CDA by the US Supreme Court, have reason to believe that this new
censorship law will undergo the same fate. As the law was put into
legal force by the same Congress whose majority voted for publishing
openly pornographic material concerning President Clinton on the
Internet, this will fuel regrettable European prejudices against the
USA as being governed by bigots."

Meryem Marzouiki of IRIS France stated that:

"The Child Online Protection Act has been passed in the United States
while governments, all around the world, are calling for measures
commonly decided at the international level, because the Internet is
an international medium. Even with regards to other issues, we have
recently seen that decisions which implies consequences on other
nations could not be made without the consent of these nations. This
particularly applies when addressing Internet issues."

Notes for the Press:

The Global Internet Liberty Campaign pages are at http://www.gilc.org

The GILC statement criticising the CDA II is at
http://www.cyber-rights.org/gilc/gilc-cda.htm


Contact Information

Mr Yaman Akdeniz
Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) - http://www.cyber-rights.org
Direct Telephone: 0498-865116, dial +44 498 865116 if you are abroad.
Fax: 0113- 2335056 E-mail: lawya () cyber-rights org, lawya () leeds ac uk

Mr Erich Moechel
Quintessenz users group (Austria) - http://www.quintessenz.at
E-mail: erich-moechel () quintessenz at
Tel: +43 2266 687201
Fax: +43 2266 687204

Meryem Marzouki
IRIS (France) - http://www.iris.sgdg.org
E-mail: meryem.marzouki () dial oleane com
Tel: +33(0)144749239

David Sobel
EPIC (US) - http://www.epic.org
E-mail: sobel () epic org
Tel: +1 202 544 9240
Fax: +1 202 547 5482

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

.