------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 95 09:04 PST
To: Internet-Sales@mmgco.com
From: Internet-Sales <Internet-Sales@mmgco.com>
Subject: Special Bulletin
Fellow I-Salers:
There's important stuff brewing in Washington, along the lines of "I'm from
the government and I'm here to help you".
There are many powerful interests, both business and government, that feel
(correctly) threatened by the growth of the Internet. As we all know, the
'Net is truly a "Power to the People" medium. As an aging child of the
60's, I have enough idealism left to feel strongly about keeping the 'Net
out of the hands of the government. And I think this decency issue is
simply a Trojan Horse that is being used to begin the process of government
control of the 'Net.
We need to take a stand *now*. Please read the following and, if you agree,
do everything in your power to be heard.
John Audette
Moderator
---------------------
CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE
NET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS
quoted 7 lines On Tuesday December 12, 1995,
>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, 1995quoted 39 lines CONTENTS
>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
quoted 66 lines that the Internet community WILL NOT TOLERATE Congressional attempts to
>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, 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
quoted 20 lines = == ======================== ==============
> = == ======================== ==============
> 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.govquoted 1 line Dist ST Name, Address, and Party Phone Fax
> Dist ST Name, Address, and Party Phone Fax
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
quoted 10 lines 6 GA Gingrich, Newt (R) 1-202-225-4501 1-202-225-4656
> 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 RHOBquoted 1 line 4. Forward this alert to all of your wired friends.
>4. Forward this alert to all of your wired friends.quoted 42 lines WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?
>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 *
>Multimedia Marketing Group * 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
quoted 3 lines (Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities,
>
>(Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities,
> not EFF chapters or divisions.)quoted 1 line End Alert
> End Alert