2ND SUIT FILED AGAINST INTERNET 'INDECENCY' BAN.Byline: Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire Legislation barring "indecency INDECENCY. An act against good behaviour and a just delicacy. 2 Serg. & R. 91. 2. The law, in general, will repress indecency as being contrary to good morals, but, when the public good requires it, the mere indecency of disclosures does not suffice to exclude " from the on-line world was challenged in a suit filed Monday by a coalition of industry and civil liberties groups. It was the second such legal action in recent weeks. Both suits target a section of a new telecommunications law that prohibits transmission of "indecent" material on computer networks. The language - a few paragraphs in the 300-page bill signed by President Clinton last month - has sparked widespread anger among Internet users. The fight over on-line censorship also is returning to Capitol Hill. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., plans to introduce a bill to strip the so-called Communications Decency Act See CDA. (legal) Communications Decency Act - (CDA) An amendment to the U.S. 1996 Telecommunications Bill that went into effect on 08 February 1996, outraging thousands of Internet users who turned their web pages black in protest. section from the telecommunications law. And one Republican representative is gathering a group of Internet-savvy legislators to "educate" fellow House members about the information highway. The suits and negative reaction pointedly demonstrate that Congress needs to learn more about the Internet and the potential impact of related legislation, explained Rep. Rick White, R-Wash., who opposed the language. White has spent the last three weeks making plans for a bipartisan group of 10 to 15 legislators with "an intense interest in the issue." They would serve as an educational outreach team and sounding board for future legislation concerning computers, he said. When Congress reconvenes today after a three-week recess, White hopes to entice some of the 20 colleagues he has targeted to join the invitation-only group. The group would watch not only Internet-specific legislative proposals, but other matters of interest to high-tech regions, such as encryption policy and intellectual property rights. But many are unwilling to wait for Congress to revisit re·vis·it tr.v. re·vis·it·ed, re·vis·it·ing, re·vis·its To visit again. n. A second or repeated visit. re the issue. On Monday, a group of organizations filed suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, seeking to have the indecency language eliminated from the books. Among the plaintiffs are several on-line service providers, including America Online See AOL. , Prodigy, Apple Computer and Microsoft Corp.; publishing industry groups, including the Association of American Publishers (body, publication) Association of American Publishers - (AAP) A group engaged in standardisation efforts in document preparation. , the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Newspaper Association of America The Newspaper Association of America is a United States trade association that represents the country's largest daily newspapers and provides services including market research, technology education and support, minority hiring and representing publishers in Washington, D.C. ; the American Library Association American Library Association, founded 1876, organization whose purpose is to increase the usefulness of books through the improvement and extension of library services. and the American Booksellers Association. |
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