Excerpts from internet.cypherpunks: 8-Jan-96 S.652 (H.R. 1555) by Harry Bartholomew@netcom
Perhaps some of our more lawyerly types can decipher whether it is getting better or worse as the conference committee chews. Not I.
I'm not a lawyerly type by any means, but my understanding is that it's getting worse: * The provision prohibiting the FCC from regulating the Net has been removed. * The max fine for "indecent" speech is now $250,000. The budget crisis stalled work on the legislation, and many congressperns are out of town. But the Senate wants the bill to pass in its current form, as does the White House -- Gore called it "an early Christmas present to the American people." The only opposition is from the House freshman Republicans, who are criticizing the bill on other grounds. Since they don't want to be seen as "porn-sympathetic," my guess is that the indecency provisions will stay in. And the bill should become law within the next month. -Declan