IP: CDT: Congress To Pass Range of Internet Provisions in Budget Bill

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

X-Sender: cdt5 () shell cais com
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 18:54:07 -0500
To: farber () cis upenn edu
From: Alan Davidson <abd () CDT ORG>
Subject: CDT: Congress To Pass Range of Internet Provisions in Budget Bill

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   The Center for Democracy and Technology  /____/     Volume 4, Number 26
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      A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
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 CDT POLICY POST Volume 4, Number 26                   October 15, 1998

 CONTENTS:
(1) Congress Agrees to Internet Censorship Legislation
(2) Omnibus Funding Bill Includes Online Privacy Protections for Children
(3) Forward-looking Electronic Signatures Provision Will Protect Privacy
(4) Roundup: Tax Moratorium, WIPO Pass; Encryption, Spamming Deferred
(5) Subscription Information
(6) About CDT

  ** This document may be redistributed freely with this banner intact **
        Excerpts may be re-posted with permission of <ari () cdt org>


_____________________________________________________________________________
(1) CONGRESS AGREES TO INTERNET CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION

Despite the best efforts of civil liberties groups and hundreds of calls
from Internet users, Congress will again pass legislation restricting
speech on the Internet.  The new law will prohibit commercial web site
operators from offering material that is suitable for adults but considered
"harmful to minors."  The language, based on Representative Oxley's
censorship bill (H.R. 3783), has been added to the massive spending
legislation that Congress is expected to approve on Friday, October 16.

The bill will prove ineffective in protecting children online, since much
offensive Internet material originates overseas.  Like Congress' last
effort to regulate content on the Internet, which was struck down by the
Supreme Court, this latest effort is unconstitutional. Its fate will be
decided in the courts, where the Justice Department will once again be
forced to waste taxpayer dollars defending a statute that its lawyers
admitted in a letter to Congress last week poses "difficult constitutional
issues."

CDT and others have already begun mapping legal strategies for challenging
the new law.

Also included is Senator Dodd's language requiring ISPs to offer filtering
software to their subscribers, and a provision denying benefit of the
Internet tax moratorium to those who offer material that is harmful to
minors unless they verify the age of users.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

* CDT's Constitutional Analysis of H.R. 3783
http://www.cdt.org/speech/constitutional.html

* Text of Oxley Censorship Bill (H.R.3783) [Thomas]
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:HR03783:

* Policy Post 4.25: House and Senate Each Pass Censorship Legislation,
Protections for Children's Privacy and Internet Tax Freedom Act Held Hostage
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_4.25.html

* CDT's testimony on H.R. 3783 (as introduced)
http://www.cdt.org/speech/testimony/jbermantest.html

_____________________________________________________________________________
(2) OMNIBUS FUNDING BILL INCLUDES ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR CHILDREN

Despite the imminent passage of censorship legislation, the news is not all
bad. Included as a part of the same massive spending bill is the
"Children's Online Privacy Protection Act" (S. 2326), sponsored by Senators
Bryan, Burns and McCain.  This legislation requires Web sites targeted to
children 12 and under to obtain parental consent before collecting personal
information. Under the bill, the new rules would be enforced by the Federal
Trade Commission. The final language  addresses concerns raised by CDT and
others, allowing children to maintain one-time contact through email
without parental involvement. This allows children to request and receive
information from Web sites through email without their personal information
being used or sold for other purposes.

This is Congress' first effort to address growing concerns with privacy
online and should serve as a precursor to broader legislation on the
subject next year.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

* CDT's Testimony on S. 2326 (as introduced)
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/testimony/testimony92398.html
Summary http://www.cdt.org/privacy/testimony/testimony92398sum.html

* Policy Post 4.25: House and Senate Each Pass Censorship Legislation,
Protections for Children's Privacy and Internet Tax Freedom Act Held Hostage
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_4.25.html

* CDT's Analysis of the FTC's Report on Online Privacy
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/ftcanalysis.html

* CDT's Analysis of the Clinton Administration's 7/31/98 Privacy Announcement
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/gore_analysis.980811.html

_____________________________________________________________________________
(3) FORWARD-LOOKING ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES LEGISLATION INCLUDES PRIVACY
PROTECTIONS

Also in the spending bill is Congress' first major piece of legislation on
electronic signatures. Senator Abraham's "Paperwork Elimination Act" would
push the federal government into the Information Age by laying down the
preliminary groundrules for federal government use of electronic signatures
for forms submitted online. The bill also contains groundbreaking privacy
provisions to protect the personal information of people using electronic
signature systems.

The Abraham legislation establishes a baseline for government acceptance of
electronic signatures, without prescribing the technologies to be used. The
bill requires the OMB to set out procedures for agency acceptance
of electronic submissions using electronic signatures within the next 18
months.

The legislation also establishes, for the first time, privacy protections
for the personal information collected in the course of providing and
guaranteeing electronic signatures. The Abraham legislation will prohibit
companies that collect such information from using or disclosing it without
the permission of the person involved.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

* CDT's Statement on the Government Paperwork Elimination Act
http://www.cdt.org/press/101298press.html

* CDT's letter on the General Services Administration's digital signatures
project
http://www.cdt.org/digsig/gsaletterrep.html

_____________________________________________________________________________
(4) ROUNDUP: TAX MORATORIUM, WIPO PASS; ENCRYPTION, SPAMMING DEFERRED TO
NEXT CONGRESS

With respect to other Internet issues, the omnibus spending bill also
includes a three-year moratorium on new state taxes on Internet commerce.
The WIPO digital copyright legislation passed separately and is on its way
to the President for his expected signature

Congress failed to enact legislation lifting export controls on strong
encryption; supporters of export relief vowed to return to the issue again
next year.  Congress also did not finish legislation addressing unsolicited
commercial e-mail, or "spam," but signalled its intention to further
explore the issue next year.

There may well be other issues affecting the Internet buried in the
hundreds-of-pages long omnibus spending bill and other legislation passed
hectically in the last few weeks.  CDT will be reporting in future Policy
Posts on other developments.

____________________________________________________________________________
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(5) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

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____________________________________________________________________________
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(6) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US

The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
organization based in Washington, DC. The Center's mission is to develop
and advocate public policies that advance democratic values and
constitutional civil liberties in new computer and communications
technologies.

Contacting us:

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World Wide Web:       http://www.cdt.org/


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End Policy Post 4.26                                              10/14/98
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