"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is afraid of its people." -- John F. Kennedy, 1962.
"When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know', the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives." -- John Lyle (If This Goes On, by Robert Heinlein)
"The voice of reason knows that free speech doesn't equate to sexual harassment, abuse of children, or the breeding of hatred or intolerance. We insist that any material that's legal in bookstores, newspapers, or public libraries must be legal online." -- excerpt from the EFF introduction to the Blue Ribbon Campaign.
"As the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed, the Internet deserves the highest protection from governmental intrusion." -- U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell, from the Federal Court ruling on the CDA.
"Even federal judges are limited to life tenure. The First Amendment remains to give protection to future generations as well..." -- Chief Judge Dolores K. Sloviter, from the Federal Court ruling on the CDA.
(Last update: 6/14/96)
6/13/96: On June 12, 1996, a three-judge Federal Court panel ruled unanimously that the CDA is unconstitutional due to violations of First Amendment rights.
6/14/96: I'll be putting more info here later, but for now, here's a link to the Center for Democracy and Technology, which has a good deal of information about the CDA decision: http://www.cdt.org/
Actually, a more direct link for CDA decision info might be: http://www.cdt.org/ciec/.
For the full text (~250k file) of the Federal Court decision on the CDA, you can jump directly to: http://www.cdt.org/ciec/decision_PA/decision_text.html.
And for the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition's press release (June 12, 1996) regarding the Federal Court's CDA decision, take a look at: http://www.cdt.org/ciec/decision_PA/960612_ciec_pr.html.
Contents:
1) What is this page?
This is a Web page which is meant to show support for free speech on-line... which, actually, is something that one should not *have* to actively demonstrate support for in the United States, because of the existence of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which is supposed to protect and guarantee such rights. So why is this page here? Ah, therein lies the story...
Due in part, one may very well suspect, to election year politics and politicking, something known as the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was recently passed into U.S. law, signed by President Clinton on February 8, 1996. Attached to this Act was something known as the "Communications Decency" amendment, which is significant in the fact that, by the manner in which it is worded, it compromises the right of free speech guaranteed not only by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but also by the U.N. Declaraction of Human Rights...
2) Why is this page black?
Many organizations and individuals (including myself) on the Internet participated in an organized protest immediately following President Clinton's signing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by turning their Web pages black, representative of the mourning of the death of the right of free speech on-line. The protest campaign was known by a couple names, including "A Thousand Points of Darkness" and "48 Hours of Darkness".
As part of an on-going attempt to raise awareness of on-line free speech issues, I'll be continuing to keep this page black... for a thousand hours, or more, if necessary.
3) Why is there a blue ribbon marking this page?
The blue ribbon has been adopted as the symbol for the protection and preservation of basic civil rights, including that of free speech, on-line. There is, in fact, something known as the Blue Ribbon Campaign, which address these issues.
4) Where can I find out more about the Blue Ribbon Campaign for free speech on-line, and other related topics?
More information on the Blue Ribbon Campaign for Online Freedom of Speech, Press, and Association can be found at http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html.
There's a lot of useful information at www.eff.org. In fact, EFF's analysis (Feb 2, 1996) of the "Communications Decency" amendment to the Telecommunications Act is one of the more intelligent and informative writings on the subject that I have come across. Here's a direct link to that file, if you want to jump directly to it: http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cda_020296_eff.statement.
Another site which houses a lot of information pertaining to the CDA, free speech on-line, and related topics is: http://www.epic.org/.
As of February 23, 1996, the Government has agreed not to enforce the CDA, pending resolution of the legal challenge that the CDA is unconstitutional, filed in federal court on February 8, 1996 (yes, the very day the Telecommunications Act was signed by the President). For more details, take a look through the EPIC Web pages...