EPIC to Debate Exon on CNN

CNN's 6:00 p.m. (EST) news broadcast tonight (2/13) will include a
segment on S. 314, "The Communications Decency Act," introduced by
Sen. James Exon (D-NE).  Judy Woodruff will moderate a discussion 
of the bill with Sen. Exon and Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic
Privacy Information Center (EPIC).



_________________________________________________________________________
Subject: EPIC to Debate Exon on CNN
_________________________________________________________________________
David Banisar (Banisar@epic.org)       * 202-544-9240 (tel)
Electronic Privacy Information Center * 202-547-5482 (fax)
666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 301  * ftp/gopher/wais cpsr.org 
Washington, DC 20003                * HTTP://epic.digicash.com/epic

On 13 Feb 1995, Dave Banisar wrote:

> 
> 
> CNN's 6:00 p.m. (EST) news broadcast tonight (2/13) will include a
> segment on S. 314, "The Communications Decency Act," introduced by
> Sen. James Exon (D-NE).  Judy Woodruff will moderate a discussion 
> of the bill with Sen. Exon and Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic
> Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

Just got done watching it (and I have it on video tape.) In a nutshell, 
Senator Exon was much more convincing than Mr. Rotenberg. :( Why didn't
EPIC field someone with better debating skills? A sellout was offered a 
la EFF and DT. Mr. Rotenberg seemed ill prepared and not really 
interested in the issue. This is not a good omen. The perseption left in 
my non-internet literate wife was that the INTERNET=smut. :(

All in all, not a good showing IMHO,

Sam

On Mon, 13 Feb 1995, Samuel Kaplin wrote:
>  A sellout was offered a 
> la EFF and DT. Mr. Rotenberg seemed ill prepared and not really 
> interested in the issue.

You expected something different from "EPIC"?

Cypherpunks are supposed to be paranoid.  You are
not paranoid enough.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Are they (CNN) going to re-air the discussion? I wasn't able to see it.

On Mon, 13 Feb 1995, Samuel Kaplin wrote:

> Senator Exon was much more convincing than Mr. Rotenberg. :( Why didn't
> EPIC field someone with better debating skills? A sellout was offered a 
> la EFF and DT. Mr. Rotenberg seemed ill prepared and not really 
> interested in the issue. This is not a good omen. The perseption left in 
> my non-internet literate wife was that the INTERNET=smut. :(
> 

I assume that Rotenberg was trying to do one thing only which was to try 
and get Exon to state that his bill did not cover ISPs.  He succeeded.  
He was not trying in 5 minutes to score debating points along the lines 
of "pornography, smut, indecency, sex, violence, rapine, and slaughter 
are perfectly legal so long as they do not rise to the level of legal 
obscenity."  That's just the sort of argument that gets the audience to 
think you're nuts and ignore you.  

If the bill doesn't cover ISPs, it is meaningless.  He never actually 
*said* he'd work with Exon.  You have to be very careful on these shows.  
He could, perhaps, have done a little better, but I detected no sellout.

DCF

On Mon, 13 Feb 1995, Duncan Frissell wrote:

> If the bill doesn't cover ISPs, it is meaningless.  He never actually 
> *said* he'd work with Exon.  You have to be very careful on these shows.  
> He could, perhaps, have done a little better, but I detected no sellout.

Exon can say whatever he wants. Read the bill. There's no "except for 
ISPs" in there anywhere you know.


- dog