-Caveat Lector- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> People For the American Way Foundation Press Release <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, March 4, 1999 CONTACT: Nancy Coleman, David Elliot or Lela Shepard at 202-467-4999 INTERNET BILL WOULD FORCE SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES TO TRADE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOR INTERNET ACCESS AID Proposed Internet legislation would misuse the power of the federal government's purse strings to restrict adult and student Constitutional rights and substitute government-imposed censorship for the judgment of local parents and teachers on how to manage online access, People For the American Way Foundation warned today. In hearings before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, People For the American Way Foundation's Legal Director Elliot Mincberg spoke out against such legislation, including S.97, a bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would require any school receiving federal discounts for Internet service to impose censoring software on school computers. "The Internet offers students, teachers and librarians vast treasures waiting to be mined," Mincberg said. "It is appropriate for school officials and parents on a local level to develop acceptable use policies for accessing the Internet. But it is entirely inappropriate for the federal government to use the power of its purse strings to force local schools to accept an onerous censorship policy." The 1996 Telecommunications Act requires the federal government to offer discounted Internet access to schools, a discount called E- rate access. The proposed legislation would attach unacceptable string to that aid by focing schools, as a condition of receiving the discount, to impose censoring filters aimed at blocking material deemed "harmful to minors." Mincberg explained that the legislation is misguided for three reasons. First, the courts consistently have struck down government attempts to restrict Internet access as violations of the First Amendment. Second, mandatory filtering requirements would discourage local officials from developing more sensible and effective alternatives. And third, federally mandated filtering would lead to numerous lawsuits across the country and erode local control. "Mandatory Internet filtering in public libraries and schools, particularly if mandated by the federal government as a condition on E-rate access, raises serious legal and constitutional problems and threatens to frustrate the tremendous potential of the Internet," Mincberg testified. PFAWF has a long history of opposing Internet censorship and served as co-counsel and co-plaintiff in the Communications Decency Act, which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1997. More recently, PFAW Foundation represented a group of Loudoun County, Virginia citizens who successfully challenged a public library Internet censorship policy in federal court. ====================================================================== PFAWF Press Releases -- http://www.pfaw.org/news/ ====================================================================== To subscribe to the People For the American Way Foundation Press Release distribution list, please sign up for our Activist Network at http://www.pfaw.org/activist/ or send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: subscribe pfaw-presslist To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe pfaw-presslist ====================================================================== People For the American Way Foundation 202 467 4999 phone 2000 M Street NW Suite 400 202 293 2672 fax Washington DC 20036 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pfaw.org ================================= Robert F. 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