______________________________________________________________________________
  ____ ___ _____ ____      _    _           _
 / ___|_ _| ____/ ___|    / \  | | ___ _ __| |_   US Supreme Court Hears
| |    | ||  _|| |       / _ \ | |/ _ \ '__| __|  Oral Arguments in the fight
| |___ | || |__| |___   / ___ \| |  __/ |  | |_   for free speech online.
 \____|___|_____\____| /_/   \_\_|\___|_|   \__|
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     The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition --  http://www.ciec.org
______________________________________________________________________________
    Please distribute widely with this banner intact. Please post only in
       appropriate forums.  Do not distribute after April 25, 1997

                                March 20, 1997
 In This Issue:
  - US Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in the CDA Challenge.
  - Audio Transcripts of Online Interview with CIEC Lead Attorney
  - The CIEC Online Campaign Continues - 1.5 million hits in a week!
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SUPREME COURT HEARS ORAL ARGUMENTS IN THE CDA CASE

On Wednesday March 19th, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the
challenge to the Communications Decency Act, a case which will determine
the future of the Internet and the fate of the First Amendment in the
Information Age.  A decision is expected in late June or early July.

The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition statement on the arguments is
attached below.

Bruce Ennis, CIEC lead attorney, who argued the case on behalf of both the
ACLU and CIEC Plaintiffs, discussed the case and the oral arguments at a
special online event on March 19th.  The event, moderated by Wired
Magazine's Todd Lappin, was sponsored by CIEC, HotWired, and Progressive
Networks.

Audio transcripts are available online at http://www.ciec.org/events/.

It's not too late to join the CIEC Freedom Network to help announce the
latest news and information about the case and the decision when it is
handed down later this summer. Visit http://www.ciec.org/action/ for details.

Detailed background on the case, court transcripts, and other relevant
information can be found at http://www.ciec.org/.
________________________________________________________________________
CIEC Statement on the Supreme Court Arguments

BRUCE ENNIS AND COALITION LEADERS ENCOURAGED BY SUPREME COURT ORAL
ARGUMENTS IN FIRST AMENDMENT CHALLENGE

WASHINGTON, D.C - March 19, 1997. - Today the United States Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the First Amendment challenge to the Communications
Decency Act (CDA), a law passed by Congress in 1996.  Challengers who are
members of the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition --  a broad
coalition of Internet users, publishers and service providers -- say the
statute would ban speech protected by the First Amendment and subject
Internet users to far greater restrictions than exist in any other medium.

Bruce J. Ennis, lead attorney for the coalition who argued the case today
said that he felt that the case got a thorough and thoughtful hearing from
the Court.  "The Court seems to understand that the Internet is a unique
medium and cannot be subject to the restrictions on speech which apply in
mass media such as radio and television," Ennis said after the argument was
completed.

Judith Krug of the American Library Association, lead plaintiff in the
case, noted that the Justices "paid special attention to the threat that
the CDA would pose to libraries around the country seeking to use the
Internet to provide greater public access to information."

In questions to both Mr. Ennis and the Justice Department attorney
defending the statute, the Justices probed the effectiveness of this
statute as compared to software tools which empower parents to filter out
inappropriate Internet sites whenever their children surf the web.

"If the goal is to protect children, then parental empowerment technology
together with education provides the means. This law would only lull
parents into a false sense of security, into feeling that children were
protected when they are not.  We know that at least 40% of the content that
may be inappropriate for children is outside the US, and beyond the reach
of US law," said Bill Burrington, Assistant General Counsel of America
Online, a plaintiff in the case and co-organizer of the CIEC coalition.

With a decision expected in late spring or early summer, coalition members
expect that the issue will be back before the US Congress shortly.  Jerry
Berman, Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology and
coordinator of the Citizen's Internet Empowerment Coalition said after the
argument that, "the Court focused on the critical question of how to
protect children effectively on the global Internet while extending full
First Amendment protection of the tens of millions of Americans who rely on
the Internet today.  Congress failed to reconcile these important goals
when in passed this law."

Last June, a three-judge federal panel in Philadelphia unanimously held key
sections of the CDA to be unconstitutional. The government appealed the
decision last fall.

Appellees in the case include 27 plaintiffs organized as the Citizens
Internet Empowerment Coalition and led by the American Library Association,
plus 19 other plaintiffs in an ACLU suit. The two groups of plaintiffs were
consolidated by the lower court for trial.

Among the plaintiffs are representatives of libraries, book and magazine
publishers, public interest groups, newspapers, record and motion picture
producers, journalists and advertisers, and the on-line industry. All these
groups fear that on-line posting of legitimate material --from information
on breast cancer to nude drawings from the Louvre Museum -- could make them
subject to prosecution and jail time.

Plaintiffs in the case include: American Library Association, Inc.; America
Online, Inc.; American Booksellers Association, Inc.; American Booksellers
Foundation for Free Expression; American Society of Newspaper Editors;
Apple Computer, Inc.; Association of American Publishers, Inc.; Association
of Publishers, Editors and Writers; Citizens Internet Empowerment
Coalition; Commercial Internet eXchange; CompuServe Incorporated.; Families
Against Internet Censorship; Freedom to Read Foundation, Inc.; Health
Sciences Libraries Consortium; HotWired Ventures LLC; Interactive Digital
Software Association; Interactive Services Association; Magazine Publishers
of America, Inc.; Microsoft Corporation; Microsoft Network; National Press
Photographers Association; NETCOM On-Line Communication Services, Inc.;
Newspaper Association of America; Opnet, Inc.; Prodigy Services Company;
Wired Ventures, Ltd.; and, the Society of Professional Journalists Ltd.

Among those filing amicus briefs with the High Court are The U.S. Chamber
of Commerce, the American Association of University Professors, the
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the National Association
of Broadcasters, ABC Inc., CBS Inc. and NBC.

All legal documents related to the CIEC case can be found at
http://www.ciec.org.
________________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

It's not too late to join the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition
Freedom Network campaign.  Follow the instructions below. You will join a
historic effort to announce the latest news and information about the case,
including the Supreme Court decision when it's handed down in late June or
early July 1997.

The campaign, designed to help educate the public about the case, has been
a resounding success so far.

* Between March 12 and March 19th, people surfing the Net saw the CIEC
  Freedom Network icon approximately 1.5 Million times.

* More than 10,000 individual Web sites have joined the effort to
  educate the public about the importance of this case.  

* An average of 180,000 individual Internet users see the CIEC Freedom
  Network icon each day!

If You Maintain A World Wide Web Page:

1. Add the following link *TODAY* in a prominent location on your site:

   <a href="http://www.ciec.org">
   <img src="http://www.ciec.org/images/countdown.gif" alt="Countdown to
   Supreme Court"></a>
   <br clear=all><br>

2. IMPORTANT -> Let us know you have joined the campaign:

   Drop us a note at <feedback@ciec.org> and let us know you have
   added the link to your site.  We will keep a running tally of the
   number of participating sites.

If You Don't Maintain A World Wide Web Page:

1. Forward this Alert to your friends (until April 25, 1997).

2. Visit the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition page
   (http://www.ciec.org) to keep up to date on the latest news about the
   case and information on how you can join the fight to preserve the
   future of the Internet as a viable means of free expression,
   education and commerce.
________________________________________________________________________
HOW DOES THIS CAMPAIGN WORK?

After you have added the link (above) to your page, an animated image
will be displayed on your site linking to the CIEC web site.

The image will be updated on a regular basis to reflect the latest news and
information about the case, and will announce the decision when it's handed
down by the Court in June or July. The update will occur at our server --
you will not have to do anything.

By clicking on the icon, visitors to your page will jump directly to the
Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition site which contains the latest news
and information on the case, court documents, along with information on how
they can join the fight.

The "Countdown to the Supreme Court" campaign is similar to the "question
mark/fireworks" campaign last June announcing the decision in the
Philadelphia case.  Both campaigns were organized by the Center for
Democracy and Technology http://www.cdt.org and the Voters
Telecommunications Watch http://www.vtw.org.

Very special thanks to PANIX Internet (http://www.panix.com/) webhost for
www.ciec.org, for handling the extrodinary number of hits.
________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
HOW TO REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THIS LIST 

As CIEC members, you have been invited to join this list in order to
receive news updates and other information relevant to the CIEC challenge
to the Communications Decency Act.

If you ever want to remove yourself from this list, send email to

   ciec-members-request@cdt.org

with 'unsubscribe ciec-members' in the SUBJECT LINE (w/o the 'quotes').
Leave the body of your message blank.

Back issues of the CIEC
Trial Bulletin           --  http://www.cdt.org/ciec/bulletins/
_______________________________________________________________________________
end alert
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