---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 15:28:57 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Net Results: elections and the Internet, from The Netly News [I recommend that you visit The Netly News to read the article with the links -- I wrote it with a web audience in mind. --Declan] --- The Netly News November 6, 1996 http://netlynews.com/ Net Results By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) Nineteen ninety-six was to have been the Year of the Netizen. Bob Dole this spring endorsed strong crypto, making it a likely campaign issue. The Communications Decency Act was accelerating toward the Supreme Court. Every political candidate sported a web page. The First Cat and the Dole Dog were online. Electronic mailing lists such as Netizens-l were springing up as symbols of netizens' hope to start wielding power over the body politic. It didn't happen. Yesterday's election largely preserves the status quo: a Clinton White House and a Republican Congress. Matters important to netizens never became campaign issues. Sure, Bill Clinton may have pledged to wire all schools to the Net, but election year rhetoric is cheap and realizing his plan will be expensive. Dole's stammering announcement of his web site's address demonstrated only his lack of a cyber-clue. Yet with the election, the political terrain has shifted subtly. Sen. Jim Exon (D-Neb.), architect of the CDA, has retired. The leadership of the powerful Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will change. Attorney General Janet Reno, who has attacked the Net repeatedly, may step down or be replaced. Even with a slimmer majority, Republicans in the House likely will continue to resist hasty "anti-terrorist" measures and remain unlikely champions of online liberties. Some civil libertarians hope that Clinton will emerge as a statesman who for the first time does not fear defeat at the hands of voters. CYBER-RIGHTS DARLING RICK WHITE WINS REELECTION: Fighting against Internet regulation may keep the campaign checks from Bill Gates coming, but Washington State voters would rather talk about the environment. Still, cyber-rights champion and Newt Gingrich fan Rep. Rick White (R-Washington) narrowly won his first re-election bid yesterday. It's bad news for the environment and good news for netizens. As a sophomore rep, White will be in a better position to shepherd pro-cyberspace legislation through the House next year. LEADERSHIP OF SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE CHANGES: Larry Pressler (R-South Dakota) ended an 18-year Senate career yesterday when he lost to challenger Tim Johnson, a House Democrat. Now the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee -- which handles telecommunications and Internet bills -- is in flux, with Arizona's John McCain the likely successor. "McCain is an unknown quantity. He voted for the CDA and supported crypto without being out in front on it," says Jonah Seiger from the Center for Democracy and Technology. SENATOR JOHN KERRY, TECHNO-FRIENDLY WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: Although we may not agree with all of Massachusetts incumbent Sen. Kerry's positions on Net freedom, he at least recognizes Netizens as an important constituency. His vote in favor of the CDA seemed a strike against Netizens until he vociferously modified it to say that such matters should be handled by parents rather than the law. Kerry was the only Senator to answer the Voters Telecommunications Watch Pledge, a political platform for the technological public, and now that he's been reelected we should remind him of just what that pledge means. As a senator representing high-tech firms and sitting on the Commerce and Intelligence committees, Kerry is well-positioned to back up his email with his votes. ONLINE COPYRIGHT BILL LOSES CHAMPIONS: Free speech on the Net may get a reprieve in the next Congress, thanks to the retirement of Reps. Carlos Moorhead (R-California) and Patricia Schroeder (D-Colorado). The duo championed the heinous NII Copyright Protection Act of 1995, which would hold Internet providers financially liable for the actions of their users and make browsing the Net without a license from copyright holders against the law. With librarians, PTA groups, and teachers arguing against it, the legislation died in committee this summer. IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND FCC NEXT YEAR: Brace yourself for more steamy Net-rhetoric from Al Gore, who will take a more prominent role as administration spokesperson on technology and telecom issues as he prepares for a presidential bid in 2000. Inside the White House, failed health care czar Ira Magaziner has turned his attention towards online commerce. Sensing a possible growth opportunity, the FCC has started to take an interest in Internet regulation -- and Clinton now will appoint a commissioner to fill a vacancy at the FCC. With Naderites like Jamie Love calling for FCC regulation of spam, bureaucratic meddling seems near-inevitable. ###