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From: ACLU.Newsfeed-Owner@villa.fc.net                                       
                                                                             
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04-12-96                                                                     
ACLU Newsfeed -- ACLU News Releases Direct to YOU                            
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TODAY'S NEWS:                                                                
                                                                             
* ACLU v. RENO: TRIAL UPDATE: Government Opens Case in Internet Trial        
                                                                             
* New Utah Bill Seeks to Kill Gay Clubs                                      
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     *ACLU v. RENO: TRIAL UPDATE: Government Opens Case in Internet Trial*   
                                                                             
                                                                             
*  1st Government Witness Acknowledges Difficulty in Finding Sexually        
Explicit Material Online                                                     
                                                                             
*  2nd Government Witness Returns Monday to Conclude Testimony               
                                                                             
*  Plaintiffs have option to rebut government case Monday                    
                                                                             
PHILADELPHIA -- Testifying for the government today, Special Agent Howard A. 
Schmidt acknowledged, in answer to skeptical questioning by a three-judge    
panel, that it is "highly unlikely" for anyone to come across sexually       
explicit sites on the Internet by accident.                                  
                                                                             
As the first witness for the government, Agent Schmidt began the morning with
a live Internet tour and demonstration of a search for so-called indecency.  
 The demonstration stopped short of actually displaying any of the images,   
but traced for the court the route by which Schmidt arrived at various web   
sites.                                                                       
                                                                             
Schmidt acknowledged -- under cross-examination -- that majority of the sites
he found would have been off limits had he been running a software program   
such as SurfWatch, that blocks access to Internet sites considered           
inappropriate for children.                                                  
                                                                             
Marjorie Heins, who conducted cross-examination for the ACLU, noted that     
Agent Schmidt's expertise -- and the government's case -- lies in focusing on
a very narrow category of sexual material, much of which is already covered  
by existing obscenity law.                                                   
                                                                             
"In today's testimony, the government attempted to divert the court's        
attention from the serious concerns of our plaintiffs by focusing on material
that is highly inflammatory and largely irrelevant to this case," Heins said.
                                                                             
The consolidated cases of ACLU v. Reno and ALA v. DOJ challenge provisions of
the Communications Decency Act that criminalize making available to minors   
"indecent" or "patently offensive" speech.                                   
                                                                             
Under questioning by the judges, Agent Schmidt was asked how he would enforce
the censorship law when confronted with a safe-sex information web-site that 
displayed an image illustrating how to put a condom on an erect penis.       
                                                                             
Agent Schmidt said that since the context was "educational, not purely for   
pleasure purposes," he would not censor the site but advise the publishers to
post warnings.                                                               
                                                                             
His answer was different when asked how he would rate an online copy of the  
controversial Vanity Fair magazine cover featuring the actress Demi Moore,   
nearly naked and eight months pregnant.                                      
                                                                             
In that case, Schmidt said, the Communications Decency Act would apply       
because the image was "for fun."  He also said, in answer to a query from    
Judge Stuart Dalzell, that the community standard as to the offensive of the 
image might be different for Minnesota than it would for New York.           
                                                                             
"It is ironic that, according to the government, an explicit online image of 
an erect penis in an educational context would be acceptable, whereas Vanity 
Fair, a constitutionally protected publication containing a much less        
explicit image, would be censored," Heins said.                              
                                                                             
Following Agent Schmidt's testimony, the final plaintiff witness, Dr. Albert 
Vezza, told the judges about PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection), 
a new rating system designed to allow parents to control children's access to
the Internet without censorship.                                             
                                                                             
Dr. Vezza is associate director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Sciences  
and has chief responsibility for the PICS project.  He was unable to testify 
earlier in the case due to scheduling conflicts.                             
                                                                             
Dr. Vezza said he expected that wide industry acceptance of the PICS standard
would enable any number of "third-party" organizations such as the PTA, the  
Christian Coalition or the Boy Scouts of America to rate content for Internet
users.                                                                       
                                                                             
The second and final government witness, Dr. Dan Olsen, a professor of       
computer science at Brigham Young University, took the stand in the          
mid-afternoon.                                                               
                                                                             
Dr. Olsen acknowledged that the PICS standard would allow parents to control 
their children's Internet viewing according to their own values or via a     
rating system devised by a trusted organization.                             
                                                                             
He also acknowledged that a system he had conceived in which Internet sites  
must be labelled by the content originator, would not allow for such an      
independent rating scheme.                                                   
                                                                             
While plaintiff lawyers completed cross-examination of Dr. Olsen today, he   
will return on Monday for redirect by government lawyers and to answer any   
questions the judges may have.                                               
                                                                             
It is now anticipated that Monday, April 15, will be the last day of trial in
ACLU v Reno.  Plaintiff lawyers will have the opportunity on Monday (instead 
of April 26) to call witnesses to rebut the governments's testimony.         
 However, the ACLU and ALA coalitions did not indicate which witnesses, if   
any they would call.                                                         
                                                                             
Because the April 26 rebuttal day is no longer necessary, the next date in   
court is set for June 3, when the three-judge panel will hear oral arguments 
from both plaintiffs and defendants.                                         
                                                                             
The judges are expected to issue a ruling some time in the weeks following.  
 Under expedited provisions, any appeal on rulings regarding the new         
censorship law will be made directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.              
                                                                             
Lawyers for the ACLU appearing before the judges are Christopher Hansen,     
Marjorie Heins, Ann Beeson, and Stefan Presser, legal director of the ACLU of
Pennsylvania.                                                                
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                       *New Utah Bill Seeks to Kill Gay Clubs*               
                                                                             
Utah lawmakers have reached a compromise on legislation aimed at restricting 
gay student clubs at Utah high schools while allowing the Salt Lake City     
School District to lift its blanket ban on all extracurricular clubs, the    
Salt Lake City Tribune reported.                                             
                                                                             
Passage of the new proposal is on the agenda of next Wednesday's special     
session of the Legislature.  The old proposal, which would have forbidden    
teachers from condoning or promoting "illegal activity," has been replaced by
language that targets "criminal behavior" -- a change supporters hope will   
alleviate concerns that the measure might trample free speech rights and     
 interfere with acts of civil disobedience in teachers' private lives.       
                                                                             
And after lengthy talks with lawyers and school officials, the governor and  
key lawmakers have agreed to add new provisions that would allow school      
districts to ban student clubs that promote "bigotry, encourage criminal     
behavior or involve human sexuality."                                        
                                                                             
Leavitt said that would extend to heterosexual as well as lesbian and gay    
clubs.    Doug Bates, attorney for the state Office of Education, said if the
new law is enacted, he was all but certain the Salt Lake School District     
would move to lift its February ban on all student clubs and replace it with 
a ban on gay clubs.                                                          
                                                                             
But that move would tantamount to discrimination, said a student closely     
involved with the East High School Gay-Straight Alliance, which sparked much 
of the current controversy when Salt Lake City school board officials voted  
in February to ban all student clubs rather than allow their group to form.  
                                                                             
"It's an unfair denial of student's rights to life, liberty and happiness,"  
said Kelli Peterson, the club's founder.  "We do not talk about having sex.  
 We do not promote bigotry.  We promote acceptance."                         
                                                                             
At issue is the applicability of the federal Equal Access Act of 1984, backed
at the time by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and originally drafted to give      
Bible-study groups access to school facilities for extracurricular           
activities.                                                                  
                                                                             
The Utah Attorney General's Office and the state Office of Education         
officially have opined that under the law, school districts have no basis for
forbidding specific clubs, unless they engage in illegal activities.         
                                                                             
Carol Gnade, director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties    
Union, said that the latest version of bill "flies in the face of the        
equal-access law" and is certain to be challenged in court.   "This is no    
better than the original version and probably worse," Gnade told the Tribune.
                                                                             
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