ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602120019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
Goodlatte helped write that provision and made sure it included protection for Internet access providers that try to prevent children from reaching inappropriate materials.
"Parents are in the best position to make those types of decisions," said Boucher, who added that the government should not engage in censorship.
Indecent material is defined in the provision as "any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image or other communication, that, in context, depicts or describes in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs."
Maximum penalties for making such material available to minors are up to two years in jail and fines of $250,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a company.
The decency act has been attacked by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that say such restrictions violate free speech. Internet users throughout the country, including the Blacksburg Electronic Village, have turned their World Wide Web pages black in protest.
"The courts will determine whether or not this is constitutional," Goodlatte said Friday in response to criticisms of the provision. "My point is, there has to be a standard for people who do not want to be exposed, do not want their children exposed in public places."
The telecommunications bill deregulates cable rates and telephone company monopoly protections, allows the phone and cable industries to get into each others' markets and makes it easier for media companies to expand their holdings. In addition to the on-line restrictions, the bill requires TV manufacturers to put a "V" chip in sets, which would allow parents to block out inappropriate programming.
Boucher helped write an earlier incarnation of the bill in 1988 with Vice President Al Gore, then a senator, that would have allowed telephone companies to offer cable television services - an element of this legislation. Boucher also was on a conference committee that reconciled differences between the House and Senate versions of this bill.
Boucher's news conference at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center was only a block away from the Blacksburg Electronic Village offices, where strong opinions against the indecency provision reign. BEV Director Andrew Cohill said the restrictions are so chilling "we might feel we have to turn everything off and walk away."
"The law as it's written gives prosecutors a very wide range of options in interpreting what [indecent material] means," said Cohill, who plans to keep the BEV home page blackened for a week in protest. "The whole situation is very troubling. They're asking for more restrictions on this medium than any other medium."
Goodlatte said indecent material is clearly defined and would not include discussions about breast cancer or abortion, for example, as groups opposed to the provision fear. Private transmissions between adults do not fall into the provision, he added, only material that is sent to children or is posted on public areas of the Internet that do not restrict access by minors.
Restrictions would include passwords or credit card numbers that must be punched in to gain access.
"The bottom line here is when you are in public places," he said, "you have the responsibility to act in a decent manner."
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Boucher, Goodlatte. color.by CNB