You need only think it, and it is done....
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From: newsbytes@clari.net (NB / WAS)
Subject: McCain Blasts Live Teen Virgin Stunt, Proposes Bill 07/15/98
Organization: Copyright 1998 by Newsbytes News Network (via ClariNet)
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 16:15:31 PDT
Status:
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1998 JUL 15 (NB) -- By Bill
Pietrucha, Newsbytes. Two allegedly virginal teen-agers,
presumably a boy and a girl, have picked a bad time to announce
their "deflowering," scheduled for Aug. 4 live on the Internet. The
notice of the event, in the news media today,
comes on the same day the US Senate started its floor debate on the
Internet School Filtering Bill, which would require schools and
libraries to use content filtering software on the computers.
"For the sake of this nation, I pray that this is nothing but a hoax,"
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) sponsor of the Internet filtering bill, S.
1619, said today. "If it is, then it is neither clever nor humorous. If
it is not, then something must be done to protect our children from
witnessing this event."
The Commerce Committee Chairman's bill would require schools
and libraries to block "explicit" material on the Internet, or lose
billions in federal funding from the universal service program.
"As Internet use in our schools and libraries continues to grow,
children's potential exposure to harmful online content will only
increase," McCain said.
The bill requires schools receiving universal service discounts to
certify with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that
they are using, or will use, a filtering or blocking system on
computers with Internet access "so that students will not be eligible
to receive universal service support for Internet access unless they
do this," McCain said.
Under the act, libraries would only have to certify they are using a
filtering or blocking system, such as CyberPatrol, CYBERsitter,
NetNanny or SurfWatch, for one or more of their computers so that
at least one computer "will be suitable for minors' use."
Once a school or library certifies that it will use a filtering system,
they will be eligible to receive universal service fund subsidies for
Internet access. If they do not certify, they will not be eligible to
receive universal service fund subsidized discounts.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), however, called the
legislation unconstitutional.
"This is nothing less than Big Brother in the classroom," ACLU
national staff attorney Ann Beeson said. "We believe that
educators, not Congress, should be the ones making decisions about
what students can learn on the Internet."
Although the legislation states that school Internet filtering policies
could be based on local community standards, Beeson countered
that such software "is incapable of discerning between different
community mores."
"You can no more create a computer program to block out one
community's views of `indecency' that you can devise a filtering
program to block out unconstitutional proposals by members of
Congress," Beeson said.
But McCain today said his bill "is not about censorship. This is not
about dictating morals to consenting adults... this is about
protecting our children."
"If individual parents want to make such information available to
their children, that is their choice," McCain said. "But children
should not be allowed to enter a school or a public library and gain
access to material that their parents would never allow them to see."
A USA Today article noted that the 18-year-old love fest could be
a hoax designed to increase subscribership to The Enchanted Web,
an Internet site with links to a number of other adult Web sites.
Newsbytes News Network: http://www.newsbytes.org
(19980715/Press & Reader Contact: Pia Pialorsi, Office of Sen.
John McCain, 202-224-2670/WIRES *ONLINE, LEGAL/)
_______________________
Regards, http://web.mit.edu/reagle/www/home.html
Joseph Reagle E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65 BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E
reagle@mit.edu independent research account