Campaign for a New Congress says Erols Internet, division of RCN Corp. Sabotaged Campaign Newsletter Over Opposition to Nov. 1 'Virtual March on Washington'; Letter Resumes with Help from America Online.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 1998--The Campaign for a New Congress, which has called for millions of Americans fed up with the abuses of the GOP Congress to stage a "Virtual March on Washington" November 1 to cancel what it terms the Gingrich-led "contract on America", announced its campaign newsletter, "NewCongress Daily Leader", circulated daily to several thousand national and local Democratic officials, candidates and campaign managers, including the White House, was "sabotaged" Wednesday by Erols Internet, a division of RCN Corp. (Nasdaq:RCNC), whose executives had expressed opposition to its content.

The campaign said the newsletter was able to resume today thanks to emergency internet access provided to its editors by America Online (NYSE:AOL).

Gayle Essary, executive director of sponsoring People, Inc., an organization devoted to the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, said RCNC refused to allow editors internet access to the domain housing the distribution, but also refused to provide any evidence of what it termed "abuse." The company appears to have had a problem with the organization's call for millions of e-mails directed to the Speaker of the House on November 1 as part of an afternoon and evening online "march", which will include postings on message boards, visits to chat rooms, signing of online petitions, streaming media and other interactive activities.

Essary said some scattered media on the newsletter's list had objected to its objectives, which are to unelect all Republican Congresspersons, and may have "complained" to Erols, but that would not be valid since newsmedia are obligated to receive news. He said that no distributions were ever made from Erols, and that the campaign is looking at a precedent-setting $7m lawsuit now in the courts, located at http://www.epic.org/privacy/internet/hall-complaint-798.html , but that no decision about litigation against RCNC will be made until after the November 3 election.

Essary said the disruption by RCNC raises important questions about the future of net commerce, and whether First Amendment protections are adequately protected or whether they can be validly abridged at all by "user" language pervasive in ISP agreements --- especially where free expression and other content may be stifled where editors and publisher of electronic journals fear that controversial statements could stimulate recipients who disagree to claim "spam" to their internet providers, and result in similar disruptions.

He said current ISP policies are as devoid of due process as has been the GOP Congress' mishandling of the Starr referral, and that net commerce and free expression are at "grave risk."