On Wed, 6 Dec 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
I just heard (12:15 EST) that the House has adopted language similar to the original Exon-Coates language in the Senate (as opposed to the White language, which was less restrictive in that it dealt with material that was "harmful" to children, interpreted to mean child porn).
It looks like Internet Service Providers will soon be held liable for "indecent material" passed by their systems. I would expect most ISPs will drop the alt.binaries.* newsgroups as a first step, and maybe other groups as well.
*Sigh*. Are we really ready to go back to UUCP? It looks like we'll have to. That is, if someone doesn't set up a couple cryptographically enhanced subnets first, or come up with some better idea. Interesting prospect, actually. Anyone wish to comment on the prospect of a double blind server, set outside U.S. borders, that can act as an interface to the rest of the world, perhaps encrypting or stego'ing the data transfered between it and the user? Basically, an anonymous remailer that acts as a cross between an NNTP, POP3, and SMTP servers.
If the Exon Bill really does go into effect, and age limits on access are imposed, I'll be looking for what we've always joked about: the "Information Superhighway Driver's License."
God help us all. -- Jason Burrell South Texas Communications