FC: Japanese politicos can't use Net; Meth "secret search" bill update

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

********
Meth bill background and critiques:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=methamphetamine
********


http://www.smh.com.au/news/0006/21/world/world12.html

                 Political battles snared in Net law
                 June 21, 2000
                 By SONNI EFRON in Tokyo

                 Japanese politicians can dispatch loudspeaker
                 trucks to peaceful neighbourhoods, begging for
                 votes at decibel levels that would ensure defeat in
                 any Western country. They can use telephone
                 banks without restrictions to harass voters at
                 dinner time.

                 But what politicians in Japan may not do during an
                 election campaign is the least invasive form of
                 politicking yet invented: they may not post their
                 campaign literature on the Internet.

                 Japan's strict electioneering rules are under scrutiny
                 once again as the country prepares for an
                 important parliamentary election on Sunday, the
                 first in nearly four years.

                 With 480 seats in the more powerful lower house
                 of parliament up for grabs and the popularity of the
                 ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP)
                 gaffe-prone Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori,
                 plummeting almost every time he speaks, the
                 election is shaping up to be a fierce fight.

                 But Japanese political cyberspace has become an
                 unusually sedate place. Some candidates and
                 activists, fearful of running foul of the law, closed
                 their home pages when the official campaign period
                 began on June 13. Others, exploiting a legal
                 loophole, simply left old material untouched, since
                 home pages posted before the campaign started
                 are allowed to remain.

                 Technically, Internet campaigning is not illegal, but
                 under election law anything not explicitly permitted
                 is banned. The Home Affairs Ministry has
                 interpreted the law to mean that cyberspace is out
                 of bounds.

                 [...]

**********

> Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 17:58:37 -0700
> From: Dana Larsen <muggles2 () cannabisculture com>
> Subject: Drug-info Censorship Bill Update
>
> To the Editor,
>
> In response to your story on the drug-info censorship provisions in the 
> impending Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, I hope that the 
> following update on this restrictive bill will be of interest to you.
>
>
>
> DRUG-INFO CENSORSHIP BILLS PROLIFERATING
>
> US Congress pushing more drug-info ban bills
>
> By Dana Larsen
> Editor, Cannabis Culture Magazine
>
>
> The US Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, and its proposed censorship
> of drug info, has been receiving severe criticism in the media, yet
> Congress persists in trying to force the bill into law.
>
>
> BANKRUPTCY METH-BILL
>
> The newest maneouver to sneak the increasingly unpopular drug-info ban
> into law involves another bill, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2000 (HR
> 833). This bill, ostensibly a bill dealing with consumer protection and
> taxation issues surrounding bankruptcy, was amended in mid-June to include
> the entire text of the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act (HR 2987).
> The entire Meth-bill is inserted between a section on "insolvency
> improvement" and one on the "bankruptcy of electric utilities."
>
> The Bankruptcy Reform Act was already passed by both the US House and
> Senate without the Meth-bill attached to it, and is in conference
> committee between House and Senate. Adding on the entire text of the
> Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act as an "amendment" at this late
> point is clearly an attempt to by-pass the growing media awareness and
> public attention surrounding the censorship provisions.
>
> Before the massive amendment, the Bankruptcy Reform Act had already
> contained some duplication of the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act.
> The "Secret Searches" clause, which would allow police to search a
> residence and not tell the owner, was already included in the Bankruptcy
> bill.
>
>
> ANTI-ECSTASY BILLS
>
> Another pair of bills have also been introduced in the Senate and House,
> which essentially duplicate the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act,
> except that they claim to be directed at MDMA, generally known as
> "Ecstasy".
>
> The Senate's Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act (S 2612) and the House's Club
> Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (HR 4553) were both introduced in late May as
> identical bills. They would increase the penalties for possession and
> manufacture of MDMA and GHB, allocate millions of dollars for more police
> and "school and community-based anti-ecstasy classes," and ban
> "information pertaining to the manufacture, acquisition, or use of a
> controlled substance."
>
> This info-ban is broader than that of the Methamphetamine
> Anti-Proliferation Act, which only aims to censor information on
> "manufacture" of banned substances. The Meth-bill had originally included
> a ban on "use" as well, but that word was removed before the bill was
> passed by the Senate.
>
>
> RISK OF HARM
>
> Another police-state provision of the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation
> Act would make "risk of harm to the environment" while manufacturing a
> banned substance as being equivalent to "risk of harm to human life", and
> upping the penalty for this to a mandatory minimum of 10 years! This is in
> addition to any other penalties for the actual cultivation/production.
> This vaguely defined section could easily snare pot farmers caught growing
> in forest or park lands.
>
> Further, in the specific cases of amphetamine or methamphetamine, the onus
> would be on the manufacturer to prove that he was not causing risk of harm
> to human life or the environment, or else face the mandatory 10 years
> imprisonment.
>
>
> MEDIA ATTENTION
>
> Although the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act received almost no
> media attention when it was unanimously passed by the Senate in November
> 1999, it has begun to get a great deal of negative publicity in recent
> weeks. What follows is a list of links to all the major media stories
> which have been printed about the bill.
>
> JULY 1: CA: What Are They Smoking? (Reason Magazine)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n757/a01.html?130
>
> JUNE 9: US: Making War On Free Speech (WorldNetDaily)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n787/a01.html?130
>
> JUNE 8: US: Knowledge Control (Reason Magazine)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n775/a05.html?130
>
> JUNE 5: US: Drug-war Casualties (National Review)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n760/a02.html?130
>
> MAY 31: TX: Basic Freedoms The Next Victim Of The War On Drugs (Times
> Record News)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n719/a08.html?130
>
> MAY 26: DC: Editorial: The Anti-Meth Bill  (Washington Post)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n695/a03.html?201
>
> MAY 26: DC: Closing Ranks On MAPA (Washington Times)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n695/a04.html?201
>
> MAY 26: VA: Editorial: Drug-Crazy (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n697/a01.html
>
> MAY 23: TN: Obscure Anti-Drug Provision Could Expand Search, Seizure Law
> (Commercial Appeal)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n687/a08.html?201
>
> MAY 22: CA: Column: Bill Is A Sneak Attack On Our Digital Liberties (San
> Jose Mercury News)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n684/a07.html?201
>
> MAY 15: CA: Editorial: Free Speech And Meth (Orange County Register)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n652/a07.html?201
>
> MAY 15: FL: Editorial: Drug Bill Threatens Right To Free Speech (Northwest
> Florida Daily News)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n650/a02.html?201
>
> MAY 10: US: House Bill Would Ban Drug Instructions (APBNews)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n638/a08.html?130
>
> MAY 9: US: Bill Criminalizes Drug Links (Wired News)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n622/a09.html?130
>
> MAY 7: CA: Hit-and-miss Crackdown On Weapons Books (San Jose Mercury News)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n614/a01.html?130
>
> APRIL 27: CA: Speed Limit (MoJo Wire - Mother Jones)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n577/a03.html?130
>
> FEB 1: NY: Washington 451 (Village Voice)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n115/a01.html
>
> FEB 1: CO: Free Speech Casualty In War On Drugs (Summit Free Press)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n176/a08.html?140991
>
> JAN 12: CA: Censoring Pot Messages (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n081/a09.html?140991
>
> See Also: http://www.mapinc.org/methact.htm
>
> Articles from 1999:
>
> SEPT 99: MA: Just say nothing (Boston Phoenix)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n952/a02.html?141020
>
> AUG 99: MI: Hatch-Feinstein Act Tramples First Amendment (Michigan Daily)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n824/a04.html?140997
>
> AUG 99: Reefer Madness Hits Congress (Wired Magazine)
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n819/a01.html?141034
>
>
>
> * * *
>
>
> GENERAL DRUG-INFO BAN INFO
>
> The following articles from Cannabis Culture Magazine provide in-depth 
> analysis of the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act.
>
> 'Secret Searches' clause added to Drug-Info Ban:
> http://www.cannabisculture.com/cgi/article.cgi?num=1561
>
> Senate Passes Drug-Info Ban:
> http://www.cannabisculture.com/cgi/article.cgi?num=1318
>
> Congress Plans Pot-Info Ban:
> http://www.cannabisculture.com/cgi/article.cgi?num=200
>
>
> * * *
>
> OTHER ACTIVIST LINKS ABOUT THE DRUG-INFO BAN
>
> Opposition to Meth Bill Mounting
> http://www.drcnet.org/wol/140.html#oppositionmounting
>
> Anti-Ecstasy Bill Filed in Senate
> http://www.drcnet.org/wol/140.html#antiecstasy
>
> Stop the Bankruptcy Reform Act and the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act!
> http://www.eff.org/br/br1.html
>
> Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (Anti-Ecstasy bill info)
> http://www.cognitiveliberty.org
>
> How to Make Amphetamines (Info-ban protest site)
> http://crystalmeth.amphetamine.com/
>
> Stop Biomedical Censorship
> http://maxpages.com/stopcensors
>
>
> * * *
>
> POLITICIAN CONTACT INFO
>
> Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation
> Act in the Senate. Call her Washington office at (202) 224-3841, or email
> her at: senator () feinstein senate gov.
>
> Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, the first openly lesbian woman
> elected to the US Congress, has proposed amendments which would either
> strike the censorship provisions, or exempt material otherwise protected
> by the First Amendment. Tammy Baldwin, 1020 Longworth
> Building, Washington, DC 20515; tel (202) 225-2906; fax (202) 225-6942;
> email: Tammy.Baldwin () mail house gov; website:
> http://www.house.gov/baldwin/
>
> Representative Bob Barr (R-GA) is considering offering an amendment to the
> bill that would remove the "secret searches" provision allowing law
> enforcement officers to search homes and computers without informing the
> owners. (However, Barr is very anti-pot.) Bob Barr, 1207 Longworth
> Building, Washington, DC 20515; tel (202) 225-2931; fax (202) 225-2944;
> press.barr () mail house gov; http://www.house.gov/baldwin/
>
> The House of Representatives Justice Committee's Subcommittee on Crime is
> soon to vote on the bill. Mr McCollum, Chairman: tel (202) 225-3926;
> http://www.house.gov/judiciary/sub106.htm
>
>
> US GOV'T STATEMENTS
>
> Statement backing the Ecstasy Bill from US Senator Bob Graham:
> http://www.senate.gov/~graham/pr0523.html
>
> Statement backing the Ecstasy Bill from US Senator Chuck Grassley:
> http://www.senate.gov/~grassley/releases/2000/p0r5-23.htm
>
> Statement backing the Club-Drug Bill from Representative Judy Biggert:
> http://www.house.gov/biggert/pressreleases/pr052500.htm
>
> Statement opposing the "sneak peek" searches from Representative Bob Barr:
> http://www.house.gov/barr/special.htm
> --
> Dana Larsen <muggles () cannabisculture com>
> Editor of CANNABIS CULTURE MAGAZINE - http://www.cannabisculture.com
> Box 69 - 199 West Hastings, Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V3C 1H4
> tel (604) 669-9069 - fax (604) 669-9038
> Check out our POT-TV project! http://www.pot-tv.net

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