On February 8, amid a torrent of high-tech superbabble and economic hyperbole, President Clinton used a stylus and drawing tablet to sign the sweeping telecommunications reform bill into law. In the process, Slick Willie also signed away your free speech rights in cyberspace.
Americans who post "indecent" material to the Net now may be subject to a US$250,000 fine and a two-year prison term.
Online activists and media organizations didn't take the rights assault lying down. Even as Clinton was finishing up his photo-op, a coalition of 19 plaintiffs led by the ACLU and the EFF was filing suit in Philadelphia to have the new indecency provisions declared unconstitutional. Here in San Francisco, Wired magazine and our online sister HotWired are also taking legal action to uphold the First Amendment and purge the Communications Decency Act from the law books.
Meanwhile, on the legislative front, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has introduced S 1567, a bill that would repeal the indecency restrictions.
For updates on the status of these important free speech battles, tune in to stag-komodo.wired.com/crn.
ELECTRIC WORD
Singing Away Free Speech
