X-Sender: smcclain@pop.atl.mindspring.com Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 16:47:07 -0400 To: efg-action@ninja.techwood.org Reply-To: efg-action@ninja.techwood.org
From: AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net Date: 96-09-24 15:25:54 EDT
.c The Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union and computer activists filed suit Tuesday challenging a new Georgia law they contend restricts free speech in cyberspace. ``Fundamental civil liberties are as important in cyberspace as they are in traditional contexts,'' said Ann Beeson, an ACLU attorney who specializes in computer law. Plaintiffs in the suit filed in federal court also include state Rep. Mitch Kaye, R-Marietta, who fought the law's passage, and Electronic Frontiers Georgia, a computer liberties organization. The law took effect July 1. It bars computer users from falsely identifying themselves, a provision which critics contend makes it illegal to use pseudonyms in electronic messages sent by computer. Some computer services allow users to send messages that identify them only by a pseudonym or account number. The law also makes it a crime for someone to use a company's trademark or symbol without permission. Critics argue that could make criminals of Web page owners who have established links to help users move quickly from their pages to those of corporate America. Robert Costner of Electronic Frontiers Georgia said that aspect of the law could subject his own group to penalties because its Web page provides a link to BellSouth's page to assist computer users in contacting the company about a recent rate increase. Rep. Don Parsons, R-Marietta, who steered the law to passage, has said critics are overreacting. The law only makes it illegal for a person to misrepresent himself on the network, posing as someone or something else, he noted. ``If somebody uses that type of data, such as a trade name, to identify themselves as some other organization, then they clearly are seeking to defraud,'' Parsons said last spring. Gov. Zell Miller signed the bill April 18 despite a warning from the attorney general that it was vague and a plea for a veto from the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, which called the measure an unconstitutional restraint on free speech rights. Ms. Beeson said the suit appears to be the first legal challenge in the country to an individual state's attempt to regulate the Internet. ``If 50 states pass 50 contradictory laws, Internet users will be virtually paralyzed for fear of violating one or more of those laws,'' she said. AP-NY-09-24-96 1523EDT Copyright 1996 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.