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| is Challenged Bar to Free Expression include Gays & Lesbians |
| Compiled by GayToday
Philadelphia-- At a three-day hearing that opened January 20 in federal district court, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is presenting testimony from website operators who provide information for artists, lesbian and gay men, and the disabled, who all fear that a new federal law will force them to shut down their websites.
These witnesses, as well as experts on Internet commerce and marketing, appeared before Judge Lowell A. Reed in the ACLU's challenge to a second Congressional attempt to censor online free speech. In June 1997, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down the nearly identical censorship provisions of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in ACLU v. Reno. ACLU v. Reno II, as the new case is called, was filed by the ACLU, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) as co-counsel on behalf of 17 individuals and organizations.
Indeed, the ACLU argues, the government's own witness, Damon Hecker (scheduled to appear in the courtroom later this week) stated at his deposition that he believed some of the pictures on the websites of ACLU plaintiffs ArtNet and Condomania could be considered, in some communities, to be "offensive to minors and without redeeming social value." The ACLU has the first half of the three days of trial to present its witnesses. ACLU attorneys in the case are Ann Beeson, Christopher Hansen and J.C. Salyer; Stefan Presser, Legal Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania; David Sobel of EPIC, Shari Steele of EFF, and Catherine E. Palmer, Christopher R. Harris, Michele M. Pyle, Anna Lincoln, and Douglas A. Griffin, as volunteer attorneys from the law firm Latham & Watkins in New York City. Complete information about the case, including the latest legal documents and transcripts from the Nov. 19 TRO hearing, are available on the ACLU website at http://www.aclu.org. The 17 plaintiffs represented in ACLU v. Reno II, including gay/lesbian businesses, are: The American Civil Liberties Union (on behalf of all its members including Nadine Strossen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Patricia Nell Warren, David Bunnell and Mitch Tepper) A Different Light Bookstore The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression ArtNet The Blackstripe Condomania Electronic Frontier Foundation (on behalf of all its members including Bill Boushka, Jon Noring, Open Enterprises Cooperative and Rufus Griscom) Electronic Privacy Information Center Free Speech Media, LLC Internet Content Coalition (whose members include CBS New Media, Time Inc., The New York Times Electronic Media Company, C/Net, Warner Bros. Online, MSNBC, Playboy Enterprises, Sony Online and ZDNet) OBGYN.NET Philadelphia Gay News PlanetOut Corporation Powell's Bookstore RIOTGRRL Salon Magazine Weststock.com |
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