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 NEWS MEDIA UPDATE
· February 8, 1999 · Internet regulation Online protection act
blocked by federal judge PENNSYLVANIA--Citing
First Amendment concerns, a federal judge in Philadelphia in early February granted a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement
of a law intended to protect children from pornography on the Internet. Civil liberties organizations and commercial
websites, some featuring sexually explicit information, fear the law would infringe upon their First Amendment rights and
diminish their ability to freely disseminate products and information on the Internet. U.S. District Judge Lowell A.
Reed Jr. granted those groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, a preliminary injunction forbidding U.S. Attorney
General Janet Reno and the government from enforcing the Child Online Protection Act on the day the temporary restraining
order was scheduled to expire. The act would force commercial website operators to collect some form of age verification
such as a credit card number or an adult access code before permitting access to material deemed "harmful to minors"
by community standards. The penalty for an offense includes a $50,000 fine and six months in prison. Reed articulated
the difficulty in ruling against a law with such a "compelling interest." However, he noted, "Perhaps we do
the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in
the name of their protection." He said there might be less restrictive means, such as use of filtering software, that
could accomplish the same goal. Reed agreed with plaintiffs' arguments that the act potentially violates the First
Amendment and may be unconstitutionally vague. "The First Amendment was designed to prevent the majority, through acts
of Congress, from silencing those who would express unpopular or unconventional views," Reed said. A number of
the organizations who joined to sue the government said they were pleased with the ruling. As an author of gay literature,
plaintiff Patricia Nell Warren of Wildcat Press expressed concern that, "There are religious-minded people who would
like to see all gay literature on the Internet go away." She also warned against the potential domino effect of the law.
If a court could determine that a book on the Internet was indecent for minors, it could lead to censorship in schools and
libraries, she said. The online regulations could also affect businesses such as Condomania, a plaintiff in the case,
which describes itself as a company committed to safe sex education and outreach that sells condoms online. Company founder
Adam Glickman said the law could force him out of business by mandating age verification from teenagers who might be afraid
or unable to access the site if forced to give a credit card number or other form of verification. The Child Online
Protection Act was Congress' second attempt to curb pornography in cyberspace. Congress enacted the act after the Supreme
Court struck down portions of its precursor, the Communications Decency Act, as unconstitutional in June 1997. That act sought
to ban all "indecent" and "patently offensive" material from the Internet. "COPA doesn't correct
the problems of the CDA," said David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center and co- counsel
in the case. Sobel said he expects a third round of legislation and litigation if the court's decision is ultimately upheld.
(American Civil Liberties Union v. Reno; Attorney for ACLU: Ann Beeson, New York) · Comments:
0 Copyright 1999 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
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Fair Use.. what is it..
here is a video by JRizoli that will give you the tip of the iceburg that is brewing in Cyber Space War Zone 2010! Please send comments to comflm@yahoo.com, posting February 19 2010 http://weeklyshow.blip.tv/file/2215230/
Please time of the essence.. please state
your opinion on the FCC website below.. Today January 14 the deadline for commenting. Yesterday, at MIT Media Lab Balkas
Theater the FCC held a workshop on the concept of new regulations to Internet Providers such as Comcast , Verizon, etc.
Although, a 4 hour session was packed with exceptional panelists, including the inventer of the world wide web himself, the
questions were written and selected vicariously by the Organizers. This should have been an all day event instead of
430PM to 830PM. The FCC had their own videographers and
so this will be up on their website today for your consumption. This is a perilous road if action is not considered.
We have a roadblocking sabotage of unidentified flying service that will be unidentified forever if we do not stop it.
Net Neutrality is the word of the day. Net Neutrality will force Providers to clearly give accurate information to
consumers on billing. You will know what you are being served. At the moment you have no idea what you get in
the numerous packages you are sold. This is arrogance at its worst. I personally have navigated the swamps for 10 years to my total dissatisfaction being hacked .. no pun intended more
than 5 times from invaders while switching to new providers and loosing all my email addresses to email hackers.. so what
to do?? Demand Net Neutrality and Full Disclosure on billing that is readable like this message not this
message Do you read me?? posted January 14 2010 and I support this message because I wrote it! J Aldrich, videographer Breaking News:
www.freepress.net, has story on Comcast NBC Internet hacks.. take back the Internet.. get informed.. be ready they are storming the waves http://www.freepress.net/node/62059 From Obama recently threatening to shut it down for Homeland Security reasons to your own backyard local providers
Comcast Verizon etc divying up the road blocking your transmission for $$$ you better take notice.. MEDIA IS
BEING HYJACKED on every level. Job security defines the message from here on! http://www.freepress.net/newsroom/must_see_videos Breaking News 01 15 10 story in
fromTim Karr www.freepress.net, The FCC's public comment period closed just minutes ago. And despite
the furious and well-financed spin by
phone and cable flacks, it looks
like more than 90 percent of the comments support Net Neutrality.
That's
because in the last 72 hours alone, more than 15,000 of you
took action. You fought back against the lobbyists and sent
a clear
message to the FCC: The Public Demands Net Neutrality. J Aldrich attended the public hearing also and this
is great news..please get on board with Net Neutrality!
Educational moment by Comflm: Did you know you only get 250gigs a month to upload and download video content??
If you go over guess what ??? YOU get BLOCKED.. Now you get it don't you! CAMERAS IN COURTS IN THE HOT SEAT.. CAN
WE GET A JURY???
JUDICIAL WATCH:
Bliptv link to Cannone
hearing (which links to all other videos uploaded - ie.other Governor Council hearings and The Fathers' Corner Cable program). http://www.blip.tv/file/2808242
Supreme Court get's it right.. guess they
still remember OUR CONSTITUTION.. WOW. http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/12/high_court_rule_3.html, open meeting law case success story .. take note posted Jan22010
Breaking
News: Fox News changes hands.. no more Conservative Voice America.. now who do Conservatives turn to ???
Fox News Desk said to type in Time Warner .. an hour still can't find it.. will keep trying to get this story for you.. One way to destroy the truth is to own it.. (Try Prince
of Saudi???? maybe) we have been sold out so don't expect anything to be reported FAIR AND BALANCED because someone
has been TIPPING THE SCALES TO THE LEFT SO FAR THEY LEFT THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT! So is it any wonder the atmosphere is getting weird on Candidates??
JOE PUBLIC WAKE UP! We will have to use the NET to fix the problem. But story below is now even more serious NBC merge
with COMCAST even more scarry. posting January 2 2009 JAldrich 10pm tele conference call going on .. call in .. and lets
talk about media.. open meeting law .. 712 432 0080 access code 137045# 10pm to 11pm Fridays..
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