Petition!!

To:      All
Fight Govt. Censorship!!  (70 lines)

Hey...

A matter has come to my attention that is of the utmost importance to all of
us
online.

Simply put, a couple of senators have proposed a particularly heinous piece
of
legislation titled the "Communications Decency Act of 1995"  (Senate Bill S.
314).  Basically, the bill would subject all forms of electronic
communication
-- from public Internet postings to your most private email -- to government
censorship.  The effects of the bill onto the online industry would be
devastating -- most colleges and private companies (AOL, Compuserve, etc.)
would probably have to shut down or greatly restrict access, since they would
be held criminally liable for the postings and email of private users.

Obviously, this bill is designed to win votes for these senators among those
who are fearful of the internet and aren't big fans of freedom of speech --
ie., those who are always trying to censor "pornography" and dirty books and
such.  Given the political climate in this country, this bill might just pass
unless the computer community demonstrates its strength as a committed
political force to be reckoned with.  This, my friends, is why I have filled
your mailbox with this very long message.

A petition, to be sent to Congress, the President, and the media, has begun
spreading through the Internet.  It's easy to participate and be heard -- to
sign it, you simply follow the instructions below -- which boil down to
sending
a quick email message to a certain address.  That's all it takes to let your
voice be heard. (You know, if the Internet makes democracy this accessible to
the average citizen, is it any wonder Congress wants to censor it?)

Finally, PLEASE forward this message to all your friends online. The more
people sign the petition, the more the government will get the message to
back
off the online community.  We've been doing fine without censorship until now
-- let's show them we don't plan on allowing them to start now.  If you value
your freedoms -- from your right to publicly post a message on a worldwide
forum to your right to receive private email without the government censoring
it -- you need to take action NOW.  It'll take fifteen minutes at the most, a
small sacrifice considering the issues at hand.  Remember, the age of
fighting
for liberty with muskets and shells is most likely over; the time has come
where the keyboard and the phone line will prove mightier than the sword --
or
the Senate, in this case.



Here's what you have to do to sign the petition:

send an e-mail message to:  S31...@netcom.com the message (NOT the
subject heading) should read as follows: SIGNED <your online address>  <your
full name>  <U.S. Citizen> (y/n) eg.  SIGNED lse...@leland.Stanford.EDU 
Laura
Sewell  YES

If you are interested in signing the petition, I would highly suggest
investigating the details of the situation.  You can find out more on the Web
at    http://www.wookie.net/~slowdog    or in the newsgroup comp.org.eff.talk


Forward History:
On 22 Feb 1995 at 11:45, Infinite Joke List (Jokes @ Infinite) wrote: On 22
Feb
1995 at 11:08, sgregory (SGREGORY@SMTP{sgr...@pragma.pragma.com}) wrote:
     I believe this is something that everyone should be aware of....

Author:  "Aaron B. Johnson" <joh...@pacificu.edu> at ~INTERNET Date:
2/22/95 4:03 AM


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