This is a transcript of the FFE's Censorship in Cyberspace forum. This transcript was made possible by funds from John Young. Major thanks John. **** Feminists For Free Expression **** CENSORSHIP IN CYBERSPACE St. Peter's Church, New York City Saturday, October 22, 1994 Moderator: Joan Kennedy Taylor Panelists: Robert Corn-Revere Ellen Lafontaine Gerard Van Der Leun Philip Zimmermann TRANSCRIPT Censorship in Cyberspace The Panelists: Robert Corn-Revere is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Hogan & Hartson, specializing in First Amendment and communications law. He has extensive experience in practice before the Federal Communications Commission and federal courts. Mr. Corn-Revere received a B.A. from Eastern Illinois University in 1977 and an M.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1980. Ellen Lafontaine is completing her doctoral studies at New York University in International Education on a Foreign Language Area Studies fellowship. Her research focuses on the role of intercultural learning networks in the foreign language classroom. Ms. Lafontaine is one of the organizers of YouthCaN '95, an international youth conference for environmental projects via telecommunications. Gerard Van Der Leun is formerly with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is a serious hobbyist on the InterNet and has hosted several on-line conferences. Philip Zimmermann is the creator of the controversial "Pretty Good Privacy" encryption software (this "freeware" has spread as far away as Europe) for which he is now under criminal investigation, awaiting possible federal indictment. He lives in Boulder, Colorado. The Moderator: John Kennedy Taylor is the author of "Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminism Rediscovered", published in 1992 by Prometheus Books. Her work has also appeared in, among other places, The Wall Street Journal, Success, and Reason. Ms. Taylor was a commentator on the Cato Institute's syndicated radio program, "Byline," for ten years (1979 through 1989). She is also Vice- President of Feminists For Free Expression. INTRODUCTION: Good afternoon, and welcome for joining us. It's an absolutely gorgeous afternoon, so we're very happy to see you here. I'm Trish Moynihan Williams. I'm a member of the Board of Directors of Feminists for Free Expression, and this afternoon I'm actually the voice of Rachel Hickerson, our Executive Director, who unfortunately has a bad case of laryngitis. So I'm speaking for her, but I really hope you won't miss the opportunity this afternoon to say hello to Rachel even though she may croak back, and get to meet our wonderful Executive Director. I wanted to tell you just a little bit about Feminists for Free Expression for those of you who are just getting to know our organization. We are a group of diverse feminists working to preserve the individual's right to read, hear, view and produce materials of her own choice without the intervention of the State "for her own good." I encourage you to learn more about us. There are pamphlets in the entry way as you came in if you haven't picked one up already. And to join us. We are a membership organization, and really need your support. As you see listed on your program this afternoon we have a stunning lineup for our program on Censorship in Cyberspace, and that program is going to be moderated by FFE's own Joan Kennedy Taylor. Joan has been [involved with] feminist issues since the early 1970's. She is the author of Reclaiming the Mainstream: Individualist Feminist Rediscovered, which was published in 1992 by Prometheus Books. In 1993 the Hoover Institution commissioned her to write the essay, "Women's Issues: Feminism, Classical Liberalism and the Future." Among the places where her work has appeared are the Wall Street Journal, Success, The Washington Times and Reason. She is Vice President of Feminists for Free Expression. So I am delighted to turn the program over to her. Joan. * * * KENNEDY TAYLOR: Can everybody hear all right? There is no sound system, but I am told the acoustics are excellent. Okay. This is a very exciting program for me, because so much is going on and so much is changing so quickly that every day brings something new. This is a new age in communications, and it also has its problems. On-line services are becoming gigantic. The InterNet makes national borders irrelevant, which to some people seems a real problem. Torrents of information and misinformation can be received or disseminated by anyone with a computer modem. Security establishments have lost their virtual monopolies on encryption to such an extent that an article in the Times compares trying to enforce a universal coding standard such as the Clipper Chip with trying to enforce prohibition. The U.S. Congress just before it adjourned passed the controversial Digital Telephony Act, a wiretapping bill that requires phone companies to keep their networks accessible to law enforcement wiretaps as they install new technologies. What does this all mean in the age old fight between those who want to control how ideas and expression are communicated and those who believe in the literalness of the First Amendment, that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press? We have asked a number of experts who also believe in civil liberties and the First Amendment to explain why we do not have to abandon these principles as we enter this confusing and exciting communications age. Our guests will speak in alphabetical order, and I hope you all have programs, which give you the back- ground of all our speakers. They will speak for twenty minutes each. Then there will be a brief period for any questions they may wish to put to each other and they will then take questions from the audience. First we turn to the relationship between law and technology. Advances in communications technology have always been greeted with suspicion. Should the law control what we do with them? Can the law control them? Robert Corn-Revere, a Washington lawyer specializing in communications law, looks at the past and the future to give us a legal doctrine for the Information Age. Robert.