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Slade's Infobahn Roadblock

Washington State's own Slade Gorton has co-written a chilling piece of censorship legislation. Gorton, together with Senator Exon (D-NE), has penned the "Communications Decency Act of 1995," or S.314, the target of which is the Internet itself.
S.314 would expand current FCC regulations on obscene and indecent audiotext to cover all content carried over all forms of electronic communications networks. Should this bill become law, substantial criminal liability would be placed upon telecommunications service providers. This would include, among other services, telephone networks, commercial on-line services, the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW), and independent BBS (computer bulletin board service).
Under S.314 anyone who "makes, transmits, or otherwise makes available any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other communication" which is "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent" using a "telecommunications device" would be subject to a fine of $100,000 or two years in prison.
Opponents of this bill include: The ACLU, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
According to a widely distributed electronic petition put out by the CDT, S.314 "would compel service providers to choose between severely restricting the activities of their subscribers or completely shutting down their e-mail, Internet access, and conferencing services under the threat of criminal liability." Service providers would be forced to babysit every private communication, e-mail message, public forum, mailing list, and file archive provided on, or carried over, their network. And because there is no clear definition of indecency, carriers would have to restrict access to any content that could possibly be construed as indecent or obscene under the broadest interpretation of the word.
This bill is a serious threat to the freedom of speech and privacy guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
The Internet is currently decentralized. In the United States a combination of corporations (large and small), public schools (elementary through university), public libraries, community groups and just plain folk operate the computers and servers which maintain the Internet's integrity. By allowing the government to put the Internet through a filter like S.314, the most powerful communication tool since the invention of language itself could be reduced to the level of mere television. Moreover, here is another example of Government as parent. Like Tipper Gore before them, Slade and Co. want to make the world safe from the heathens. Put all the "immoral" people in jail and the helpless children will be safe. It's a simplistic mentality that deserves a healthy and continuous opposition. The best way the government can keep children safe is by making sure they are fed, have homes and attend decent schools. Filtering culture is, well, the parents' job.
If you don't like what you see on the Internet... unplug your computer.

-Matt Robesch



Can KIRO cut the crap?

Since Channel 7 (KIRO) lost its CBS affiliate status, it has attempted to hold on to viewers by beefing up its news production. At night, cameras now roll at 10:00 pm and we're treated to a full hour and a half of cops, crime and crap. We're told, however, that KIRO reporters have been instructed to "own the story." That means digging a little deeper, going the extra mile to tell us something we don't already know.
So far, not much improvement. Last month, a series of "In Depth" pieces focused on the Gulf War syndrome, but the pieces were disappointingly shallow. The explanations of how Gulf War soldiers were exposed to various agents, including chemical warfare agents and their own antidotes which they were forced to take without their informed consent, were superficial.
In addition KIRO persists in calling its reporters "specialists." This is particularly annoying since most of them "specialize" in PR. "Consumer specialist" Herb Weissbaum is no Ralph Nader crusader: he spends his two minutes each night promoting gadgets rather than exposing dangerous products.
Kudos to Debra Horne. She picked up the phone and called San Francisco Laidlaw drivers who were given a retirement package, contrary to Laidlaw's line that no Laidlaw drivers are given pension plans, period.


Best Fish Coverage In Seattle

If you're interested in salmon and dams, (also known as "damned salmon") check out the bi-weekly report of the Northwest Conservation Act Coalition (NCAC). NCAC's newsletter gives you the low-down on the Bonneville Power Administration's dirty deeds, its outrageous debt load due to reckless nuke-building in the 1970s, and BPA's lame pour-mouthing when told it has to lower water levels and save salmon.
The sad saga of the salmon is a complex tale of greed and cheap megawatts, requiring dogged coverage of load levels, "net billing agreements" and the like. But it all boils down to this, says Idaho salmon activist Ed Chaney in a recent "quote of the week": "lives have been impoverished by pending extinctions just to buy the pork-barrel interests a brief delay in confronting the free enterprise system."


KOMO News 4: And You're Paying for It

It's one thing that KOMO News 4 tailors its programming to the 5th grade level, but it's an entirely different matter when the news show becomes a running advertisement for the Republican party. Always on the cutting edge when it comes to pandering to the lowest common denominator, KOMO has been running a series of special segments designed to whip up conservative prejudices. Most blatant is "You Paid for It," which is a series which covers any and all matters of real and imagined government waste in the most simplistic way possible. The bias embodied in this segment was especially apparent during the I-601 and 602 debates, when the segment became a virtual advertisement for the budget-hackers.
Government waste is a legitimate topic for reporting, but the station loses all credibility with its focus on the trivial, its hysterical presentation, and the complete absence of any stories of waste or malfeasance in the private sector. Also overdone is KOMO's "Crime Crackdown" which feeds into the prevailing fixation with crime but which provides very little in the way of explanation, history, or solutions. The station reached another low with a recent leader for "Town Meeting" which appeared to be a very strident advertisement against the transit plan, and which also erroneously linked a proposal for toll roads to the transit vote.


Who steered the Pine Street Voters?

This may not, technically, be a media related bit but it does relate to questions of fairness and clarity in political communication.... Why on the recent election ballot was the Pine Street issue presented to the Seattle voters in this manner (paraphrase) "Should the Seattle City Council reject the Nordstrom's plan to re-open Pine Street?" Citizens believing Pine Street should not be opened would have to vote "yes" on the ballot for their vote to remain consistent with their feelings on the issue. Likewise, voters of the opinion "yes, open Pine Street" would have to vote "no" on the ballot measure.
How different would the final vote count have been if voters simply voted, yes or no, "Should Seattle open Pine Street?"


What the Hell is the CWBS?

The January 24th issue of the Village Voice ran this tasty bit of information in James Ledbetter's Press Clips column: "(T)he Republican leadership has made virtually no noise about what I would call CWBS, the Cold War Broadcasting System (i.e., Radio Free Europe, et al)... The system continues to cost more than $500 million a year - almost twice the amount that goes to the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Voice of America head Geoffrey Cowan (said) he's confident that support for his agencies will survive the budget-cutting plague. Thus the U.S. is still keen to spend half a billion taxpayer dollars annually to promote American ideas and culture abroad, but the GOP leaders of the moment don't want to spend a dime to promote them here." (Radio Resistors Bulletin)


Shopping For a Better Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day local area school children will be borrowing paper grocery bags from their local grocer, decorating them with Earth Day slogans, pictures of the earth and the name of their school. The decorated bags will then be returned to the store where they will distributed to shoppers on Earth Day (April 22). Last year over 10,000 school children in 43 schools decorated over 13,000 bags which were given out to shoppers. This year Arbor Heights Elementary is acting as the local headquarters of this grassroots media effort. To find out how to participate, contact Mark Ahlness at Arbor Heights Elem, or send him e-mail... mahlness@cks.ssd.k12.wa.us


Do you have a tasty media morsel for Spike? Do you know of censorship, bias, or other derisive behavior in the print, radio, television or computer media? Send it to the WFP WAfreepress@gmail.com and get it off your chest.


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Contents on this page were published in the April/May, 1995 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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