IP: COLLEGES WORRY ABOUT NEW LIABILITY FOR INTERNET CONTENT

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

COLLEGES WORRY ABOUT NEW LIABILITY FOR INTERNET CONTENT
The recent passage of the telecommunications reform bill has some college
administrators worried over new liability issues for educational
institutions that might unknowingly make "indecent" material available to
minors through their Internet access operations.  In addition, they've
expressed concern over potential First Amendment violations if they censor
the content too heavily.  "We have programs on campus about date rape,
unwanted pregnancy, and reproductive-health options, so I don't see how we'd
tolerate censorship of that kind of information in the electronic format,"
says the head of telecommunications at Carnegie Mellon University.
(Chronicle of Higher Education 9 Feb 96 A23)