---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 18:04:35 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Enough is Never Enough -- pro-CDA alliances, from TNNN [Attached are two excerpts from the article. For the rest, check out: http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/textonly/1,1035,549,00.html --Declan] ******** The Netly News Network http://netlynews.com/ Enough Is Never Enough By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) January 17, 1997 A broad coalition of conservative and anti-pornography groups and individuals will file legal briefs next Tuesday in the Supreme Court supporting the government's defense of the Communications Decency Act, The Netly News has learned. The alliance includes longtime supporters of the act, such as Enough is Enough, Focus on the Family, and the National Association of Evangelicals. Members of Congress will join a separate brief that the National Law Center for Children and Families is preparing. But a letter from the attorney representing the coalition asked the ACLU for permission to file a brief "on behalf of" 59 plaintiffs, including such unlikely participants as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, PBS, SafeSurf... and Netscape. Netscape? The company that lobbied against the CDA? A firm with a reputation of putting their balls on the chopping block when fighting for Net-issues on Capitol Hill? Netscape was as shocked as I was to learn about their participation. "It wasn't authorized by me or my office. This is flabbergasting," Peter Harter, public policy counsel for Netscape, said. "I'd be crucified if this happened." [...] In their brief, which argues sociological rather than legal points, the groups hope to highlight the "dangers" of pornography online. They plan to supply the court with "legislative facts" to support the position Congress took when crafting the bill. The document also will include statistics discussing the effects of the Internet on children and the availability of material covered by the law. (Marty Rimm, where are you now?) Donna Rice-Hughes from Enough is Enough says: "It discusses three primary areas of our concern: letting the court know the problems on the Internet. Adult pornography, indecency, and child porn as well. A section on the harms of pornography. And a section dealing with the compliance issues: Is it feasible technically to comply with the CDA?" [...] Chris Stamper and Noah Robischon contributed to this report.