IP: a letter on the CDA from a 16 year old

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

From: Timothy Brown <tbrown () cobalt i1 net>


Mr. President (and by extension, the White House Correspondence staff)


As a longstanding citizen of the United States and an avid user of the
Internet, I must respectfully object to the legislation which now has passed
the Senate and the House, and I urge you to veto it.


This legislation will destroy the business of small ISPs who have put
millions of dollars into the United States economy.  Most of these
upstanding businessmen do nothing else for a primary job, instead investing
money and time into Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who spend months
without a profit or even a return of investment, in most cases years.
If you pass this legislation, most of these providers will go out of
business.  It's absolutely ludicrous to think that the providers of
networking service to companies and individuals support, or are liable for,
pornographic distribution to minors.


First, let me tell you a little about myself, and why I find this to be
true.


I am a 16-year old high school student, living in the state of Missouri.
I have worked (and do work) at many local Internet Service Providers,
sometimes on a pay basis, most of the time on a volunteer basis.  I am
also a computer consultant.  I feel myself firmly in control of my future
and destiny in this great nation that all Americans have.


However .... I seriously object to the legislation you are passing, which
will put myself (as a consultant and volunteer) out of business, my friends
out of business for things they have very little (if any) control over,
and the commercial Internet in general.  You, by passing this bill, will put
the Universities and other educational institutions I am currently looking
at in jepoardy of going out of business (for the privates) and losing
Internet access (for the others), because the Internet spans most of the
Universities in the U.S. who also are carriers of the Internet.


What you need to do is target *individuals* who do this, not the providers.
You need to target *child molesters* and track them down from their usage
of the Internet.  If you seriously believe that the U.S. can ever be rid of
the influence of pornography, then take action on the Internet to proceed
to put in better controls and access information, providing a trail for your
investigators to follow.


Do not alienate us.  Internet users are a large part of the voting America,
even if I am not.  Do not eliminate my job, or the future I pursue, as I am
an Internet consultant.


The next issue I will bring up:  enforcability.  Mr. President (and the
WH Correspondence center) - the Internet spans in excess of one hundred
countries and thousands of miles.  Many of these child pornographers are
outside of the United States.


Mr. President, I am a minor.  I ask you, as a minor, to please stop this
legislation due to the ludicrous nature of it.  Senator Exon has no idea
what he is doing.  If you are bent on passing this bill, beforehand, please
hold hearings of experts before doing so.  Be more educated about this
before you proceed to pass this bill.


This is a plea from one of your most empassioned supporters, speaking,
generally, for voting Americans everywhere.


Thank you.


Your Constituent,
Timothy Brown (tbrown () i1 net)