From hungary-online-owner Sun Feb 11 17:20:45 1996 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id RAA06902 for hungary-online-announce-out31415; Sun, 11 Feb 1996 17:20:45 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id RAA06884; Sun, 11 Feb 1996 17:20:20 -0800 Received: from steve@isys.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net (6881) Received: from kingzog.isys.hu (KingZog.iSYS.hu [194.24.160.4]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id RAA06870 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 1996 17:19:58 -0800 Received: from [194.24.160.22] (bubba.iSYS.hu [194.24.160.22]) by kingzog.isys.hu (8.7.Beta.11/8.7.Beta.11) with SMTP id CAA22739 for ; Mon, 12 Feb 1996 02:19:52 +0100 (MET) X-Sender: steve@mail.isys.hu Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 02:26:11 +0100 To: hungary-online-announce@hungary.yak.net From: steve@isys.hu (Steven Carlson) Subject: (HOL-A) Black Thursday Sender: owner-Hungary-Online-announce@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net This column is entitled Black Thursday, because the Telecommunications Reform Bill was signed into law by President Clinton on Thursday, Feb 8. =steve= -- Black Thursday hungary-online by Steven Carlson I had an entirely different column planned for this week, but the US Congress intervened. On February 1, the Senate and the House passed with overwhelming majorities the Telecommunications Reform Bill, which contains provisions severly restricting free speech on the Internet. Of course, this law only applies to sites within US jurisdiction. However the law sets an appalling presidence to governments around the world now considering their own Internet legislation. The US bill could also put a serious damper on the commercial development of the Internet. According to the bill, it's a criminal act to use "indecent speech" on the Internet, a crime punishable with a $250,000 fine and up to ten years in jail. It's also illegal to disseminate information about abortion, or about the use or production of illegal drugs. As I write this, news of the bill is just days old yet already a global campaign is underway to appeal this law at the United States Supreme Court. Ironically, the bill has yet to be signed to law; but President Clinton is expected to put his pen to hand Thursday. The Internet is reacting to this news like a hornet's nest overturned. That's not surprising considering the libertarian attitudes of many Internet users. But the computer and media industries are at arms as well. The law puts the burden of policing this law on those that provide Internet access to the public. Internet service providers run the risk of prosecution unless they act as censors, screening their users' content. What effect could this law have on the development of commerical Internet services? Investors might certainly think twice about the risks involved in this new industry. Policing users is bound to be unpopular, and adds to the costs of service. And if everything on the Internet has to be rated PG, it's going to get pretty boring out here. One of the best comments came from Wired Magazine publisher Louis Rossoti: "It's like the illiterate telling us what we shouldn't read." Rossoti is refering to the fact that the majority of US legislators who passed the law don't even use the Internet. The "indecent speech" portion of the bill is based on a 1934 Supreme Court decision, which is available on the Internet at . Ironically, according to telecom bill it's now illegal to publish this information on the Internet since the Decision itself contains references to the very words it defines as indecent. Critics argue the term "indecent speech" is too vaguely defined, and won't hold up under judicial review. Already webmasters are producing pages deliberately flaunting these provisions. Nonetheless, in the days to come other webmasters undoubtably will be dumbing down their content, or removing questionable material altogether. It reminds me of censorship under the Hungarian communist regime. Nobody actually told you what you couldn't print, but so since nobody wanted to step over that invisible line writers learned to practice self-censorship. None of these rules apply outside of the United States. Maybe. The trouble is most governments have no idea how to interpret existing laws. Threatened with prosecution by German authorities, in January CompuServe shut down access to a wide list of erotic-oriented newsgroups. The Germans are also considering whether neo-nazi Internet newsgroups and websites violate their laws. Since these newsgroups originate outside of German territory, local Internet access provides would be required to stop carrying them. However it would be impossible for providers to shut off access to the websites. Nobody I've spoken to has any clue about how Hungarian law would deal with these issues. We may find out soon. A young Hungarian associate of mine and his friends are displaying on a local website a controversial document from the Church of Scientology . The Church is presently waging an online war with opponents and ex-cult members around the world who are trying to ridicule the Church by posting sensitive internal documents. The local Scientologists have threaten to take the Hungarians to court. I'll keep you posted on what happens. It's time to answer the question of what we can legally say and publish on the net. This is especially true in Europe, and other areas of the world that have yet to develop much Internet content. The US-based Internet has already reached a critical mass, but this is not the case elsewhere. At this stage, content is the killer application of the Internet. Potential Internet users are looking for information in their own languages, information that addresses their own local needs. Those who create and publish that information need to know where their governments stand. Those who provide access to the Internet need to be free of the burden of having to censor their own users. If you're interested in more information on 1996 Telecommunications Reform Law, there are plenty sources on the net. One good place is Wired Magazine's Internet-based sister, HotWired . Another is a site run by the Electronic Freedom Foundation, a group which has been championing the fight against censorship . Webmasters are helping to publicize the censorship issue by placing blue ribbons on their WWW homepages. You can find info about that at . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 1995. Permission granted to redistribute this article in electronic form for non-profit purposes only. My byline and this message must remain intact. Contact me for reprint rights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------- Steven Carlson, iSYS Hungary - Hungary's business Internet provider Moderator - Online Europe list Author - Hungary Online "A government with the policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul." - George Bernard Shaw ############# # This message to Hungary-Online-announce@hungary.yak.net # was from steve@isys.hu (Steven Carlson) # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # For a full subscription (rather than this announcement-only subscription) # mail "subscribe" to # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############