THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
The recently passed telecommunications act is a serious blow to the freedoms of every American. This bill, as most people already know, was pushed through Congress as a bold deregulation act. While this in itself may have been a positive step for American consumers, the so-called ``decency'' portion of the act offends the First Amendment of the Constitution.
This new law curtails our freedoms in an entire range of areas. Discussion of abortion on the internet is now prohibited even in a clinical, informative manner. Doctors are not exempt from this law. It appears that women seeking advice on abortion would be denied access to information that could lead them to educated decisions about whether to have an abortion.
Abortion is but the tip of the iceberg. Depending on what type of internet access you have, you may notice that every time you send e-mail the message is also forwarded to the Federal Communications Commission. Whether the screen displays this information or not, it is mandatory for every message sent across the net - I dare say most users are not aware of this.
The government's opening our handwritten correspondence sent via the Postal Service would be undeniably illegal. Why, then, is it permissible to do so with e-mail? We should let President Clinton know by e-mail what we think of this law.
BRIAN WEATHERLY
Suffolk, Feb. 29, 1996 by CNB