# INTERNET DAY OF PROTEST TUESDAY DECEMBER 12, 1995

Jan Rune Holmevik (jan@utri.no)
Tue, 12 Dec 1995 07:03:16 PST

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         CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS

        On Tuesday December 12, 1995, Join With Hundreds of Thousands
                      Of Your Fellow Internet Users In

                      A NATIONAL INTERNET DAY OF PROTEST

          PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT
                    REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL December 20, 1995
    ________________________________________________________________________
    CONTENTS
            Internet Day of Protest: Tuesday December 12, 1995
            What You Must Do On Tuesday December 12, 1995
            List of Participating Organizations
            Where Can I Learn More?

    ________________________________________________________________________
    INTERNET DAY OF PROTEST:  TUESDAY DECEMBER 12, 1995

    Outrageous proposals to censor the Internet demand that the Internet
    Community take swift and immediate action. We must stand up and let
    Congress know that we will not tolerate their attempts to destroy this
    medium! Please join hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens in a
    National Day of Protest on Tuesday December 12, 1995.

    As you know, on Wednesday December 6, 1995, the House Conference
    Committee on Telecommunications Reform voted to impose far reaching and
    unconstitutional "indecency" restrictions on the Internet and other
    interactive media, including large commercial online services (such as
    America Online, Compuserve, and Prodigy) and smaller Internet Service
    Providers such as Panix, the Well, Echo, and Mindvox.

    These restrictions threaten the very existence of the Internet and
    interactive media as a viable medium for free expression, education,
    commerce.  If enacted, the Internet as we know it will never be the
    same.

    Libraries will not be able to put any books online that might
    offend a child somewhere.  No "Catcher in the Rye" or "Ulysses" on the net.
    Internet Service Providers could face criminal penalties for allowing
    children to subscribe to their Internet Services, forcing many  small
    companies to simply refuse to sell their services to anyone under 18. Worst
    of all, everything you say and publish on the net will have to be "dumbed
    down" to that which is acceptable to a child.

    As Internet users, we simply must not allow this assault against the
    Internet and our most basic freedoms to go unchallenged.

    On Tuesday December 12, the organizations below are urging you to
    join us in a NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST. The goal is to flood key members of
    the House and Senate with phone calls, faxes and email with the message
    that the Internet community WILL NOT TOLERATE Congressional attempts to
    destroy the Internet, limit our freedoms and trample on our rights.

    Below are the phone, fax, and email address of several key members of
    Congress on this issue and instructions on what you can do to join the
    National Day of Protest to save the Net.

    ______________________________________________________________________
    WHAT YOU MUST DO ON TUESDAY DECEMBER 12, 1995

    1. Throughout the day Tuesday December 12, please contact as many
       members of Congress on the list below as you can. If you are only
       able to make one call, contact House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Finally,
       if the Senator or Representative from your state is on the list
       below, be sure to contact him or her also.

    2. Urge each Member of Congress to "stop the madness".  Tell them that
       they are about to pass legislation that will destroy the Internet as
       an educational and commercial medium.  If you are at a loss for
       words, try the following sample communique:

       Sample phone call:

            Both the House and Senate bills designed to protect children
            from objectionable material on the Internet will actually
            destroy the Internet as an medium for education, commerce, and
            political discourse. There are other, less restrictive ways to
            address this issue.

            I urge you to oppose both measures being proposed in the
            conference committee.  This is an important election issue to
            me.

       Sample letter (fax or email):

            The Senate conferees are considering ways to protect children
            from inappropriate material on the Internet.  A vote for either
            the House or Senate proposals will result in the destruction of
            the Internet as a viable medium for free expression, education,
            commerce.  Libraries will not be able to put their entire book
            collections online.  Everyday people like me will risk massive
            fines and prison sentences for public discussions someone s
            somewhere might consider "indecent".

            There are other, less restrictive ways to protect children from
            objectionable material online. This is an important election
            issue to me.

    3. If you're in San Francisco, or near enough to get there, go to
       the Rally Against Censorship from Ground Zero of the Digital Revolution:

       WHEN: Monday, December 11, 1995  12:00 - 1:00 PM
       WHERE: South Park (between 2nd and 3rd, Bryant and Brannon) San Francisco.
       SPEAKERS: To be announced
       BRING: Attention-grabbing posters, signs, and banners that demonstrate
            your committment to free speech and expression, and your feelings
            about Congress.
       FOR UPDATED INFORMATION (including rain info):
            http://www.hotwired.com/staff/digaman/

    ### THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT ###

    4. Mail a note to protest@vtw.org to let us know you did your part.
       Although you will not receive a reply due to the number of
       anticipated responses, we'll be counting up the number of people that
       participated in the day of protest.

          P ST Name and Address           Phone           Fax
          = == ========================   ==============  ==============
          R AK Stevens, Ted               1-202-224-3004  1-202-224-1044
          R AZ McCain, John               1-202-224-2235  1-602-952-8702
            senator_mccain@mccain.senate.gov
          D HI Inouye, Daniel K.          1-202-224-3934  1-202-224-6747
          R KS Dole, Robert               1-202-224-6521  1-202-228-1245
          D KY Ford, Wendell H.           1-202-224-4343  1-202-224-0046
            wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov
          R MS Lott, Trent                1-202-224-6253  1-202-224-2262
          R MT Burns, Conrad R.           1-202-224-2644  1-202-224-8594
            conrad_burns@burns.senate.gov
          D NE Exon, J. J.                1-202-224-4224  1-202-224-5213
          D SC Hollings, Ernest F.        1-202-224-6121  1-202-224-4293
            senator@hollings.senate.gov
          R SD Pressler, Larry            1-202-224-5842  1-202-224-1259
            larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov
          R WA Gorton, Slade              1-202-224-3441  1-202-224-9393
            senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov
          D WV Rockefeller, John D.       1-202-224-6472  n.a.
            senator@rockefeller.senate.gov

       Dist ST Name, Address, and Party     Phone            Fax
       ==== == ========================     ==============  ==============
          6 GA Gingrich, Newt (R)           1-202-225-4501   1-202-225-4656
                 2428 RHOB                      georgia6@hr.house.gov
         14 MI Conyers Jr., John (D)        1-202-225-5126   1-202-225-0072
                 2426 RHOB                      jconyers@hr.house.gov
          1 CO Schroeder, Patricia (D)      1-202-225-4431   1-202-225-5842
                 2307 RHOB
         18 TX Jackson-Lee, Sheila (D)      1-202-225-3816   1-202-225-3317
                 1520 LHOB
          6 TN Gordon, Bart (D)             1-202-225-4231   1-202-225-6887
                 2201 RHOB

    4. Forward this alert to all of your wired friends.

    ________________________________________________________________________
    WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?

    At this moment, there are several organizations with WWW sites that now
    have, or will have, information about the net censorship legislation and
    the National Day Of Protest:

    American Civil Liberties Union (ftp://ftp.aclu.org/aclu/)
    Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org/)
    Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org/)
    Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org/)
    Wired Magazine (http://www.hotwired.com/special/indecent/)
    Voters Telecommunications Watch (http://www.vtw.org/)

    ________________________________________________________________________
    LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS

    In order to use the net more effectively, several organizations have
    joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the
    Communications Decency Act.

    American Civil Liberties Union * American Communication Association *
    American Council for the Arts * Arts & Technology Society * Association
    of Alternative Newsweeklies * biancaTroll productions * Boston
    Coalition for Freedom of Expression * Californians Against Censorship
    Together * Center For Democracy And Technology * Centre for Democratic
    Communications * Center for Public Representation * Citizen's Voice -
    New Zealand * Cloud 9 Internet *Computer Communicators Association *
    Computel Network Services * Computer Professionals for Social
    Responsibility * Cross Connection * Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer
    Lounge * Dorsai Embassy * Dutch Digital Citizens' Movement * ECHO
    Communications Group, Inc. * Electronic Frontier Canada * Electronic
    Frontier Foundation * Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin *
    Electronic Frontiers Australia * Electronic Frontiers Houston *
    Electronic Frontiers New Hampshire * Electronic Privacy Information
    Center * Feminists For Free Expression * First Amendment Teach-In *
    Florida Coalition Against Censorship * FranceCom, Inc. Web Advertising
    Services * Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands
    Off!  The Net * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle Technologies, Inc. *
    Inst. for Global Communications * Internet On-Ramp, Inc. * Internet
    Users Consortium * Joint Artists' and Music Promotions Political Action
    Committee * The Libertarian Party * Marijuana Policy Project *
    Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * MindVox * MN Grassroots Party *
    National Bicycle Greenway * National Campaign for Freedom of Expression
    * National Coalition Against Censorship * National Gay and Lesbian Task
    Force * National Public Telecomputing Network * National Writers Union
    * Oregon Coast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet * People for the
    American Way * Republican Liberty Caucus * Rock Out Censorship *
    Society for Electronic Access * The Thing International BBS Network *
    The WELL * Voters Telecommunications Watch

    (Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities,
     not EFF chapters or divisions.)

    __jan@utri.no________________http://www.utri.no/~jan__
    Institute for Studies in Research and Higher Education
    Munthes gate 29, N-0260 OSLO Norway
    Tel: +47 22925172 - Fax: +47 22925173