IP: VTW BillWatch: News from the frontlines

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

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BillWatch #78: From the front lines                            July 16, 1997 


                          BillWatch is published by
Voters Telecommunications Watch     &      VTW Center for Internet Education
http://www.vtw.org/                                   http://www.vtwctr.org/


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Table of Contents
       The White House Casts Their Lot With Net Advocates
       Congressional Research Documents On The Internet
       Upcoming Conferences
       Subscription & Press Information
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THE WHITE HOUSE CASTS THEIR LOT WITH NET ADVOCATES


President Clinton and Vice President Gore today held a summit on
parental controls.  In attendance were just about everyone from the
Internet advocates to the industry to even the censor happy crowd that
brought us the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in the first place.  I don't
think they enjoyed the day very much.


Two years ago we were fighting the CDA tooth and nail, saying it was
unconstitutional, but more importantly, saying it was unnecessary since
parents had ways of supervising their childrens' access with parental
empowerment tools; these same tools served us well in the coming
months.  The ACLU (http://www.aclu.org/) demonstrated NetNanny in court
in New York as a better means of addressing childrens' access in the
New York State Internet Censorship case, and then again the CIEC
(http://www.ciec.org/) and the ACLU used parental control tools in the
appeal of the Communications Decency Act.


In a move that virtually ensures that any new legislation on the topic
will have an uphill battle should it even get to the White House, the
President and the Vice President announced that they support technology
and old-fashioned parenting as the way for parents to supervise their
childrens' access to the Internet.  "Parents must make the commitment to
sit down with their kids and learn about the Internet together" said the
President.  "We need to give parents a virtual toolbox," said Vice
President Al Gore.  The Vice President also introduced a new website
designed to help parents learn about various ways to control their
childrens' access to the Internet, Netparents.Org (http://www.netparents.org)


The President outlined three items that will ensure that parents can
address their concerns without treading on the Constitution:
   1. The use of new technologies such as blocking software and labelling,
   2. Vigorous enforcement of existing child pornography, obscenity, and
      anti-stalking laws, and
   3. Most importantly, more active participation from parents.


Citing widespread availability of new technology and the recent ramping up
of efforts in the law enforcement and parent education area, the President
and Vice President promised to provide the leadership necessary to ensure
that parents have this virtual toolbox available to them quickly and
in a manner "easier to use than programming a VCR."


This is a crowning victory for us; the White House has basically handed
us an endorsement of our position with everything but the "You were
right".  Over two years ago, free speech advocates were saying exactly
the same thing, trying to derail the Communications Decency Act with
the Cox/Wyden Parental Empowerment bill.  The refrain all along was
that parents, not the government, can decide what's appropriate for kids.
Today that message got through to the White House and we positioned
a valuable ally on the side of the net.


In politics only a fool holds a grudge, and in this case, only a fool
would turn down an opportunity to welcome the White House to our camp.
One can only imagine this is making the pro-censorship forces angry as
hell.  They have been opposing filtering software and pushing for
legislation for years now, and the White House has handed them their
Internet agenda on a platter and said, "No thanks".


In the coming years we'll continue to fight battles with Congress about
online free speech.  While it feels great to have complete vindication
from the Supreme Court, the political reality is that having the White
House on your side is pretty darn useful as well.  And as long as they
continue to oppose any new legislation, we should continue to encourage
them.


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CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET


In recent years the Congress has made great strides in putting
information on the Internet.  The very existence of systems like Thomas
(http://thomas.loc.gov/) make it possible for projects like VTW's Big
Board (http://www.vtw.org/bigboard/) to exist.  More importantly, it
allows citizens to be active and informed parts of the democratic
process by personally examining the pending legislation that is being
debated.


Congress has come a long way, but there still remains quite a bit to be
done.  Internet advocates are now circulating a letter to Congress
about Congressional Research (CRS) Service reports.  CRS's mission is
to function as the impartial advisors to Congress, producing research
which has no specific political agenda, and unlike legislation, has not
been lobbied by all the various factions that are involved in the
legislative process.  More than one person has called CRS "the
long-term memory of Congress".  With the turnover at CRS being less
volatile than that of the Congress itself, CRS truly has the best
long-term view of Congress' processes.


You've probably never heard of a CRS research report, though, or even
seen one.  This isn't because they aren't publicly available: anyone
who wants CRS research can pay a commercial vendor $190 per year plus
$2.75 per CRS report plus 2.5 cents per page to get them.  In fact, CRS
has gone to great lengths to build their website to be as helpful as
possible to members of Congress and their staff.  That is, only to
members and their staff; you can't get to the same information that
they can.


As with anything, there are two sides to this story.  Opponents claim
that making CRS research publicly available on the Internet would
politicize it, turning it into just another pawn in the political
process.  This argument overlooks the fact that CRS information is
ALREADY PUBLIC, and anyone that wants to can buy it in print form.  The
real debate here isn't over whether or not it should be made public,
that decision has already been made.  The debate is about whether or
not you should have to pay for it, or whether it will only be available
to Congress and the select few that can afford it.  (VTW cannot, as we
have no budget)


Internet advocates are circulating a letter to Congress to ask them to
make CRS' research and website available to the public.  If your
organization would like to sign on as well, contact Gary Ruskin: send
e-mail to gary () essential org or call (202) 296-2787.
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES


Beyond H.O.P.E. (Hackers On Planet Earth): New York City, August 8, 9, & 10


Curious about privacy and security in technology?  Concerned that
the tools of the Information Age are inadequate to keep your secrets?
Come have your fears validated at the second 2600 conference, HOPE.
Demonstrations of computer intrusion, tutorials on social engineering,
and a great flea market marked the first 2600 conference.  This year's
should prove to be just as interesting.  More information at
http://www.2600.org/


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Press can reach VTW by sending mail to vtw () vtw org with "PRESS" in the
title or by paging with your phone number at 917-978-8430 (beeper).
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end Billwatch #78
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