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For Release: Contact:
February 6, 1996, 10:00 a.m. David L. Sobel (202) 544-9240
Washington, DC - The Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC) will participate as both plaintiff and co-counsel in
litigation to challenge the so-called "Communications Decency
Act." The lawsuit will be filed in Philadelphia soon after the
President signs the telecommunications bill containing the
Internet "indecency" provisions. EPIC joins the American Civil
Liberties Union and more than a dozen other organizations in
challenging this ill-advised and unconstitutional attempt to
impose governmental content regulation on emerging global
electronic media.
The legislation's vague "indecency" standard will have an
obvious impact upon the free speech rights of millions of
Americans who use computer networks to receive and distribute
information. Less apparent is the assault on privacy rights that
the legislation will engender.
To avoid potential criminal liability under the "indecency"
provision, information providers would, in effect, be required to
verify the identities and ages of all recipients of material that
might be deemed inappropriate for children. The new statutory
regime would thus result in the creation of "registration records"
for tens of thousands of Internet sites, containing detailed
descriptions of information accessed by particular recipients.
These records would be accessible to law enforcement agencies and
prosecutors investigating alleged violations of the statute. Such
a regime constitutes a gross violation of Americans' rights to
access information privately and anonymously.
Less than a year ago, the Supreme Court upheld the right to
anonymous speech in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission.. EPIC
believes that the Court's rationale in that case applies with even
greater force to the Internet "indecency" provisions. The Court
noted that
The decision in favor of anonymity may be motivated by
fear of economic or official retaliation, by concern
about social ostracism, or merely by a desire to
preserve as much of one's privacy as possible. ...
Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.
It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of
Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to
protect unpopular individuals from retaliation -- and
their ideas from suppression -- at the hand of an
intolerant society.
Whether the anonymous individuals visiting sites on the World
Wide Web are seeking information on teenage pregnancy, AIDS and
other sexually transmitted diseases, classic works of literature
or avant-garde poetry, they enjoy a Constitutional right to do so
privately and anonymously. The Communications Decency Act seeks
to destroy that right.
EPIC is confident that upon review of the legislation and its
impact upon free speech and privacy rights in emerging electronic
media, the courts will invalidate the measure as fundamentally at
odds with the Constitution.
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The Electronic Privacy Information Center is a public
interest research center in Washington, DC. It was established in
1994 to focus public attention on emerging privacy issues relating
to the National Information Infrastructure, such as the Clipper
Chip, the Digital Telephony proposal, Internet censorship, medical
record privacy, and the sale of consumer data. EPIC is sponsored
by the Fund for Constitutional Government, a non-profit
organization established in 1974 to protect civil liberties and
constitutional rights. EPIC publishes the EPIC Alert, pursues
Freedom of Information Act litigation, and conducts policy
research.
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