-----------------------------------------------------------------
_______ _ _ ____ _ _ _ _
|__ __| (_) | | | _ \ | | | | | (_)
| |_ __ _ __ _| | | |_) |_ _| | | ___| |_ _ _ __
| | '__| |/ _` | | | _ <| | | | | |/ _ \ __| | '_ \
| | | | | (_| | | | |_) | |_| | | | __/ |_| | | | |
|_|_| |_|\__,_|_| |____/ \__,_|_|_|\___|\__|_|_| |_|
Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition Trial Update No. 10
Pre-Trial Update - April 15, 1996 6:30 pm ET
-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cdt.org/ciec/
ciec-info@cdt.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CIEC UPDATES intended for members of the Citizens Internet
Empowerment Coalition. CIEC Updates are written and edited by the
Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org). This
document may be reposted as long as it remains in total.
------------------------------------------------------------------
** 40,000 Netizens Vs. U.S. Department of Justice. **
* The Fight To Save Free Speech Online *
Contents:
o Testimony Concludes in CDA Legal Challenge
* Government Only Calls Two Witnesses
* Closing Arguments Set for May 10
o How To Unsubscribe from this list
o More Information on CIEC and the Center for Democracy and Technology
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) TESTIMONY ENDS IN COURT BATTLE TO OVERTURN THE CDA - CLOSING ARGUMENTS SET
FOR MAY 10
Hearings ended today in the constitutional challenge to the Communications
Decency Act with the cross-examination of government witness Dan Olsen. The
court also announced today that closing arguments in this landmark case
will be heard on May 10 (the hearing had originally been scheduled for June
3).
Dan Olsen, Chair of the Department of Computer Science Brigham Young
University, testified on Friday April 12 about a scheme he developed two
weeks ago for rating sexually-explicit content on the Internet. Olsen's
proposal would require content providers to label their sites with an
"-L18" tag if the site contains sexually oriented material. During cross
examination on Friday and again today, CIEC and ACLU lawyers criticized
Olsen's proposal as inflexible and extremely difficult to implement.
All three judges presiding over the case -- Dolores Sloviter, chief judge
of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Judges
Stewart Dalzell and Ronald Buckwalter -- questioned Olsen for almost 45
minutes about his proposal, and seemed unconvinced by his presentation.
At one point, Judge Sloviter asked, "I am wondering if whether in essence
your scheme requires some material to be blocked in advance, and if you can
think of any time in our history when we have blocked material in advance
in an organized fashion?"
Olsen replied that he believed newspaper editors did this routinely. In
response to another question from Judge Sloviter, Olsen admitted his plan
would "make it easier for the government to censor material" on the
Internet if it one day chose to do so directly.
GOVERNMENT RESTS ITS CASE AFTER CALLING ONLY TWO WITNESSES
The government rested its case today after calling only two witnesses in
defense of the Communications Decency Act. The CIEC and ACLU cases called
a total of 13 witnesses. Interestingly, over two days of hearings, neither
witness offered testimony explicitly defending the CDA as written. Instead,
the testimony appeared designed to convince the court that the CDA is
narrowly drawn and therefore satisfies the "least restrictive means" test.
In short, the government witnesses testified:
* That sexually explicit material is available to minors on the Internet
(a claim that neither the CIEC nor the ACLU challenges dispute).
* Requiring content providers to label content will prevent minors from
accessing sexually explicit material on the Internet.
CIEC and ACLU attorneys argue that the content labeling scheme proposed by
Olsen is would not be a "good faith defense" under the CDA, and is
therefore irrelevant, and that the Government has not proven that the
Communications Decency Act is the "least restrictive means" of protecting
children from inappropriate material on the Internet.
Speaking to reporters at the end of today's hearing, CIEC lead attorney
Bruce Ennis summarized the last two days of testimony by saying, " ... in
the final analysis parents have the ability and the technology to control
what kids see ... without reducing all content on the Internet to the level
appropriate for an eight-year-old." Ennis added, "This law is
unconstitutional."
CLOSING ARGUMENTS SET FOR MAY 10
On May 10, the plaintiffs and the government will each present two hours of
closing arguments. A decision is expected from the three judge panel in
mid-June. Any appeal of the ruling will be made directly to the Supreme
Court under expedited review provisions of the Telecommunications Reform
Act.
For more information, including the text of the transcripts from the first
3 days of testimony (remaining tow days will be posted soon), the text of
the complaint, and information on how you can join this historic legal
battle, visit the CIEC World Wide Web page at:
http://www.cdt.org/ciec/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Subscription Information
As CIEC members, you have been invited to join this list in order to
receive news updates and other information relevant to the CIEC challenge
to the Communications Decency Act. To subscribe, visit
http://www.cdt.org/ciec and join the Coalition.
If you ever want to remove yourself from this list, send email to
ciec-members-request@cdt.org
with 'unsubscribe ciec-members' in the SUBJECT LINE (w/o the 'quotes').
Leave the body of your message blank.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) For More Information
For more information on the CIEC challenge, including the text of the
complaint and other relevant materials:
* World Wide Web -- http://www.cdt.org/ciec/
* General Information about CIEC -- ciec-info@cdt.org
* Copy of the Complaint -- ciec-docs@cdt.org
* Specific Questions Regarding the
Coalition, incuding Press Inquiries -- ciec@cdt.org
* General information about the
Center for Democracy and Technology -- info@cdt.org
--
end ciec-update.10
4/15/96
Index of Bulletins.
Home.