June 26, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S9017 the problems of decolonization. It has After this history, the image of puter networks, I believe Congress outlived its purpose. Rather than President Nelson Mandela—a man im- must act and do so in a constitutional search for a new purpose for this Coun- prisoned for 27 years in his fight manner to help parents who are under cil, we should ask whether it should against apartheid—handing the World assault in this day and age. There is a exist at all. Cup trophy to the white captain of the flood of vile pornography, and we must Mr. President, the other major area rugby team is indeed a powerful sym- act to stem this growing tide, because, for reform is in our thinking about bol of the dramatic changes in South in the words of Judge Robert Bork, it what the United Nations is and what Africa. Throughout the country, whites incites perverted minds. I refer to its role should be in American foreign and blacks alike celebrated the victory Judge Bork from the Spectator article policy. We cannot expect the United of the Springboks, the mascot of the that I have permission to insert in the Nations to be clearer in purpose than is national team. RECORD. its most powerful member state. Mr. President, I join with the inter- My bill, again, is S. 892, and provides At its core, the United Nations is a national community in congratulating just this sort of constitutional, nar- collection of sovereign states and is be- the people of South Africa on winning rowly focused assistance in protecting holden to them for guidance, funding, the rugby World Cup. It has been a dra- children, while also protecting the and, ultimately, legitimacy. The polit- matic and historic time in South Afri- rights of consenting adults to transmit ical decisions that drive the Organiza- ca. This victory, bringing together all and receive protected pornographic tion and define its proper role in inter- South Africans, exemplifies the material—protected, that is, under the national politics must be made in na- progress to date and the hope for the first amendment. tional capitals, not in New York. future of a great country. Also, according to the Carnegie Mel- I have grown increasingly concerned f lon University study, cyberporn is real- about the tendency toward a fuzzy ly big business. Some computer net- multilateralism that has come to mark CYBERPORN works which specialize in computer U.N. policy toward the United Nations. Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, there pornography take in excess of $1 mil- We have shown a penchant for dumping is an article from Time magazine and lion per year. difficult problems in the lap of the an article from the Spectator magazine Later this week, I am going to intro- United Nations and then complaining that I ask unanimous consent to have duce the Antielectronic Racketeering when no solution is forthcoming. The printed in the RECORD at the end of my Act of 1995 which will target organized tragedy in former Yugoslavia may be remarks. crime which has begun to use the awe- the most dramatic current example of The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without some powers of computers to engage in this phenomena. The truth is, we can- objection, it is so ordered. criminal activity. not so easily wash our hands of dif- (See exhibit 1.) As we all know from past debates in ficult decisions. Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, this this body, organized crime is heavily The United Nations is not a sub- morning I want to speak on a topic involved in trafficking illegal pornog- stitute for American leadership in that has received a lot of attention raphy. The Antielectronic Racket- international affairs. Rather, it is one around here lately. My topic is eering Act will put a dent into that. avenue available to exercise that lead- cyberporn, and that is, computerized In closing, Mr. President, I urge my ership. pornography. I have introduced S. 892, colleagues to give this study by Car- I believe we must own up to the truth entitled the Protection of Children negie Mellon University serious consid- about our role in the United Nations. from Computer Pornography Act of eration, and I urge my colleagues to The United Nations has many failures, 1995. support S. 892. I yield the floor. but we fool ourselves if we merely This legislation is narrowly drawn. It EXHIBIT 1 point fingers at New York and blame is meant to help protect children from [From the Spectator, Feb. 4, 1995] the United Nations for its short- sexual predators and exposure to AN ELECTRONIC SINK OF DEPRAVITY comings. The United States is first graphic pornography. NEW YORK.—If last year it was merely among equals in the U.N. system. The Mr. President, Georgetown Univer- modish to be seen speeding down the infor- failures of the United Nations are, in sity Law School has released a remark- mation superhighway, this year it is fast be- reality, our own. able study conducted by researchers at coming essential, at least in America. Hitch We would do well to reflect honestly Carnegie Mellon University. This study your wagon to cyberspace, says the new on that unavoidable truth. On this raises important questions about the Speaker of the House, Mr. Newt Gingrich, availability and the nature of and your democracy will become absolute, golden anniversary, we must decide with all America joined together for the first whether we will continue to muddle cyberporn. It is this article I ask to time into one vast and egalitarian town along, or whether the United States have printed in the RECORD. meeting. once again will assume its unique man- Later on, on this subject, some time Mr. Gingrich made this all clear two weeks tle of leadership at the United Nations. during the middle of July, I will be ago when he unveiled a new system for I, for one, believe we must lead. conducting hearings before the full Ju- bringing Congress to the electronically con- nected populace, which in honour of Presi- f diciary Committee to fully and com- pletely explore these issues. In the dent Jefferson is called ‘‘Thomas’’. Anyone with a computer and a modem at home or in CONGRATULATING THE SOUTH meantime, I want to refer to the Car- AFRICAN RUGBY TEAM the office (or even up in the skies, courtesy negie Mellon study, and I want to em- of USAir’s new back-of-the-seat telescreens) Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, on phasize that this is Carnegie Mellon may now, with only the click of a few but- Saturday South Africa defeated heav- University. This is not a study done by tons, find the text of any bill, any resolu- ily favored New Zealand in the world some religious organization analyzing tion, any government statement. rugby championship. I rise today to pornography that might be on com- Mr. Gingrich is hugely excited by this congratulate the South African rugby puter networks. idea—going so far as to suggest, and not at team, as well as the people of South Af- The university surveyed 900,000 com- all facetiously, that perhaps every citizen be given a thousand-dollar tax deduction to rica, on this historic victory. puter images. Of these 900,000 images, allow him to buy himself a laptop computer. For years, because of its apartheid 83.5 percent of all computerized photo- Thus will all America be conjoined, he ar- policies, South Africa has stood on the graphs available on the Internet are gues, and thus will its democracy be ever outside of international sports com- pornographic. Mr. President, I want to strengthened as in no other country on petitions. From the Olympics to the repeat that: 83.5 percent of the 900,000 earth. World Cup, South Africa—a country of images reviewed—these are all on the Fine, say I, and not just because I will be- intense sports fans—had become iso- Internet—are pornographic, according come richer by $1,000. For the last three lated and banned from many competi- to the Carnegie Mellon study. years or so I have been a dedicated and en- thusiastic user of the Internet. (The Inter- tions. And more than most other Now, of course, that does not mean net—‘‘the net’’ to those in the know—began sports, rugby had become closely asso- that all of these images are illegal innocently enough 20 years ago as a vast ciated with the former white govern- under the Constitution. But with so worldwide network of computers, linked to- ment and its apartheid policies. many graphic images available on com- gether by government-funded telephone

VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:42 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S26JN5.REC S26JN5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS S9018 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 26, 1995 lines, with high-powered government-funded computer and a telephone, anywhere on (or get, I think, the drift. Others are more horri- ‘‘exchanges’’ to speed calls on their way, above) the face of the earth. fying still—those that end with the invari- which enabled universities and governments There are about 5,000 separate newsgroups able ‘snuff’ scene, but whose enticements on to swap information. Five years or so ago, on the net, each one of them presenting the way include ‘best’, ‘torture’, ‘gore’ or its controllers opted to make it more demo- chatter about some scintilla of human ‘amputees’, and which refer to sex with ani- cratic, and now anyone is able to connect to knowledge or endeavour. I have long liked mals, bloodlettings, sadistic injury, and the it; tens of thousands of new subscribers join the system, and found it an agreeable way to limitless erotic joy of stumps. every day, and the net is becoming truly discover people around the world who have It is important to note that no one polices global, with at least 20 million regular similar interests. I used to tell others who or, to use the Internet word, ‘moderates’, users.) were not yet signed up to the net that using this group, (Some of the more obscure and I am a typical enough user. I send elec- newsgroups was like going into a hugely non-sexual newsgroups do have a volunteer, tronic mail—e-mail—to everyone who is crowded pub, finding in milliseconds those usually a specialist in the field, who tries to similarly hooked up (it is lightning fast and who wanted to talk about what you wanted keep order in what might, if unchecked, be- essentially free); and I browse through the to know, having a quick drink with them be- come an unruly discussion.) On world’s libraries and data-bases to do re- fore leaving, without once having encoun- ‘alt.sex.stories’ there is only one man, a Mr. search for whatever book I happen to be tered a bore. Joshua Laff of the University of Illinois at writing. I bask happily in the Panglossian And so, with an alphabetical list running Urbana, who oversees the group, in a some- principle that the Internet seems to en- from ‘ab.fen’—which shows you how much what lethargic way. He helpfully suggests shrine. By virtue of the net, I have complete fun you can have in Alberta—down to some- the code-words for the various kinds of per- freedom to explore and trawl for anything I thing in German called verse interests. He indicates to people who want in what has become by custom an ‘zer.zmetz.Wissenschaft.physlk’, the enthu- want to talk about sex stories, rather than untrammelled, uncontrolled, wholly liber- siasms of the world’s Internet-connected actually contributing them, that they would ated ocean of information. The Internet population are distilled into their electronic be better advised to post their gripes on seems and sounds to be something almost segments. Alberta-philes can chat with each ‘alt.sex.stories.discussion’, next door, and so noble. One can understand why the US Con- other, as can German physicists, and those on. gress named its own portion of the net after who would bore these are left to chat among But Mr. Laff has no admitted scruples Jefferson: all knowledge there is is on hand themselves. In theory, an admirable arrange- about what is permitted to go out over the for all the people—just the kind of thing the ment. air. So far as he is concerned, the First great man would have liked. By Jeffersonian rights it should be uplift- Amendment to the Constitution protects all But this week, while I was peering into an ing to the spirit. In reality it is rather less that is said on ‘alt.sex.stories’ as free speech. area of the Internet where I have hitherto so. In far too many groups the level of dis- What is demonstrated on these thousands of not lingered, I discovered something so ap- cussion is execrable and juvenile. Arguments electronic pages is a living exhibition of the palling as to put all such high-minded senti- break out, insults are exchanged, the chatter birthright of all who are fortunate enough to ments into a quite different perspective. drifts aimlessly in and out of relevance. This be born in the land that has given us the Na- I had stumbled, not entirely accidentally, is a reality of the electronic world that few tional Rifle Association, the Reverend into a sinkhole of electronic but very real like to admit. It is prompting many browsers Jimmy Swaggart, and Blackwind. perversion. The first thing I read, almost as to suspect, as I do, that a dismayingly large In truth, Mr. Laff and those who support soon as I entered it, was a lengthy, very number of users of this system are not at all the published existence of such writings are graphic and in stylistic terms quite com- the kind of sturdy champions of freedom and technically right. No obscene pictures are petently composed narrative that presented democracy and intellect that Mr. Gingrich published—these could be banned in law. No in all its essentials the story of a kidnap- and Mr. Gore would like them to be. obscene truths are proffered, so far as we ping, and the subsequent rape, torture, muti- More probably, to judge from the tone and know—no confessions of real rapes, nor of ac- lation and eventual murder of the two vic- the language in many of the groups, they are tual acts of pedorasty. And since all the sto- tims. That author called himself by a code- pasty-faced and dysfunctional men with hali- ries are prefaced with warnings that those name, Blackwind; and while it is quite likely tosis who inhabit damp basements. And it is under 18, or those of sensitive disposition, that he is American, almost as certain that for them, in large measure, that the should read no further—devices that presum- he is well-educated and quite possible that newsgroups whose titles begin with the code- ably attract precisely those they purport to he is at least a peripheral member of the aca- letters ‘alt.sex’ seem to exist. deter—so, the authors seem to agree, their demic community, we know, and are allowed There are 55 of these, offering manna for ramblings do no harm at all. to know, nothing else about him. all diets. Some are fairly light-hearted; Most individual states legislate firmly or His anonymity is faultlessly safeguarded ‘alt.sex.anal’, for example contains much less so against printed pornography: but so by a system of electronics which has been spirited chat about amusing uses to which far no one has successfully prosecuted the built into the Internet, and which even the you can put the colonic gateway; Internet—not least for the reason that with police and the other agents of the state are ‘alt.sex.voyeurism’ seems to contain reason- so amorphous, so global and so informal a unable, technically or in law, to penetrate. ably harmless chatter between a whole linking of computers, who out there can be This is, from their point of view, highly re- worldful of civic-minded Peeping Toms, who held responsible? People like Blackwind sim- grettable. Blackwind’s offerings—and the like to advise one another which public loos ply open accounts at what are known as very similar stories currently being pub- in which national parks have eye-sized ‘anonymous posting systems’, and their lished on the Internet by scores of men who knotholes in their doors. There is also words become filtered through two or three are in all likelihood as deranged as he seems ‘alt.sex.nasal.hair’, into which I have not computers in such a way that the original to be—should be subject to some kind of thus far been tempted. source can never be known, and the perpe- legal sanction, and for one very understand- There are a number of the groups, though, trator of any possible crime becomes impos- able reason: the victims of the story he has which are not so amusing. There is sible to find. And, anyway, those who end- written are small children. ‘alt.sex.intergen’, where the last letters lessly cry First Amendment! Here we want One is a six-year old boy named Chris- stand for ‘intergenerational’, which is the to say that the publishing of more words, topher, who, among other indignities, suffers current paedophile bulletin-board; and there even those from so clearly depraved an indi- a castration—reported in loving detail—be- is my current target, ‘alt.sex.stories’. I came vidual as Blackwind, can do no harm at all. fore being shot. The other is a girl named across it by accident, and I double-clicked Commonsense would argue otherwise. A Karen, who is seven years old and is raped re- my mouse to open it, briefly enthralled. It long and graphic account of exactly how and peatedly by no fewer than nine men, before did not take many seconds before I realized at what hour you wait outside a girls’ school, having her nipples cut off and her throat I had been ill-prepared for what was on offer. how best to bundle a seven-year-old into slashed. There is a kind of classification system. your van, whether to tell her at the start of At the moment of my writing this, I find Each story entry lists a title, an author (in- her ordeal that she is going to be killed at that there are perhaps 200 similar stories variably either a pseudonym, or posted via the end of it (Blackwind’s favoured modus presently circulating and available on one of an anonymous computer that has laundered operandi), how best to tie her down, which the so-called ‘‘newsgroups’’ on the Internet. the words and made the detection of the au- aperture to approach first, and with what— The choice of tales is endlessly expanded and thor impossible), and a series of code-words such things can only tempt those who verge refreshed by new and ever more exotic sto- and symbols that indicate the approximate on such acts to take a greater interest in ries that emerge into this particular niche in content. them. the other every day, almost every hour. You Blackwind’s many offerings—there were Surely such essays tell the thinker of for- want tales of fathers sodomizing their three- about 200 stories in all, with Blackwind con- bidden thoughts that there exists somewhere year-old daughters, or of mothers performing tributing perhaps 15 of them—usually fell out there a like-minded group of men for fellatio on their prepubescent sons, or of into the categories that are denoted by the whom such things are really not so bad, the girls coupling with horses, or of the giving of codes ‘m-f, f-f, scat.pedo.snuff’, meaning that enjoyment of which, if no one is so ill- enemas to child virgins? Then you need do they contain scenes of male-female sex, fe- starred as to get caught, can be limitless. no more than visit the newsgroup that is male-female sex, scatological imagery, Surely it is naive folly—or, at the other end named ‘‘alt.sex.stories’’ and all will reliably paedophiliac description and the eventual of the spectrum, gross irresponsibility—to be there, 24 hours a day, for everyone with a killing of the central victim. You quickly suppose otherwise.

VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:42 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S26JN5.REC S26JN5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS June 26, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S9019 Such material is not, I am happy to say, breasted models and actors with unflagging It is a guy thing. According to the BBS op- universally available. Some of the big cor- erections, then rented for $4 a night at the erators, 98.9 percent of the consumers of on- porations which offer public access to the corner video store. Most Americans have be- line porn are men. And there is some evi- Internet—America On-Line, CompuServe, come so inured to the open display of eroti- dence that many of the remaining 1.1 percent Prodigy, Mr. Murdoch’s Delphi—have sys- cism—and the arguments for why it enjoys are women paid to hang out on the ‘‘chat’’ tems in place that filter out the more objec- special status under the First Amendment— rooms and bulletin boards to make the pa- tionable newsgroups. On America On-Line that they hardly notice it’s there. trons feel more comfortable. you may read the ramblings on Something about the combination of sex It is not just naked women. Perhaps be- ‘alt.sex.voyeurism’ and probably even and computers, however, seems to make oth- cause hard-core sex pictures are so widely ‘alt.sex.nasal.hair’, but you may read no erwise worldly-wise adults a little crazy. available elsewhere, the adult BBS market ‘alt.sex.stories’, nor may you learn tech- How else to explain the uproar surrounding seems to be driven largely by a demand for niques for having real relationships, as the discovery by a U.S. Senator—Nebraska images that can’t be found in the average paedophiles like to say they have, with Democrat James Exon—that pornographic magazine rack: pedophilia (nude photos of young children. pictures can be downloaded from the Inter- children), hebephilia (youths) and what the But for those with the wherewithal to find net and displayed on a home computer? This, researchers call paraphilia—a grab bag of more robust and uncontrolled access to as any computer-savvy undergrad can tes- ‘‘deviant’’ material that includes images of cyberspace—and that means, quite frankly, tify, is old news. Yet suddenly the press is on bondage, sadomasochism, urination, defeca- most of the world’s computer users, be they alert, parents and teachers are up in arms, tion, and sex acts with a barnyard full of ani- 90 years old or nine—all newsgroups are and lawmakers in Washington are rushing to mals. equally available, the evil along with the ex- ban the smut from cyberspace with new leg- The appearance of material like this on a cellent. The question we have to ask is islation—sometimes with little regard to ei- public network accessible to men, women whether that should continue to be the case. ther its effectiveness or its constitu- and children around the world raises issues One might not mind so much if the mate- tionality. too important to ignore—or to oversimplify. rial were being confined to the United If you think things are crazy now, though, Parents have legitimate concerns about States, where most of it originates. But in wait until the politicians get hold of a report what their kids are being exposed to and, fact it manages to seep its electronic way ev- coming out this week. A research team at conversely, what those children might miss erywhere, from Wiltshire to Waziristan. And Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, if their access to the Internet were cut off. crucially, no mechanism is yet in place al- Pennsylvania, has counted an exhaustive Lawmakers must balance public safety with lowing foreigners—whose laws might well be study of online porn—what’s available, who their obligation to preserve essential civil far less tolerantly disposed to it—to filer it is downloading it, what turns them on—and liberties. Men and women have to come to the findings (to be published in the George- out. terms with what draws them to such images. A computer owner in Islington or town Law Journal) are sure to pour fuel on And computer programmers have to come up Islamabad can have easy and inexpensive ac- an already explosive debate. with more enlightened ways to give users The study, titled Marketing Pornography cess to material over the net which would be control over a network that is, by design, on the Information Superhighway, is signifi- illegal for him or her to read or buy on any largely out of control. cant not only for what it tells us about British or Pakistani street. In China, por- The Internet, of course, is more than a what’s happening on the computer networks nographers would be imprisoned for pub- place to find pictures of people having sex but also for what it tells us about ourselves. with dogs. It’s a vast marketplace of ideas lishing material that any Peking University Pornography’s appeal is surprisingly elusive. students can read at the click of a mouse; and information of all sorts—on politics, re- It plays as much on fear, anxiety, curiosity ligion, science and technology. If the fast- and the same is true in scores of other coun- and taboo as on genuine eroticism. The Car- tries and societies. The Internet, we smugly growing World Wide Web fulfills its early negie Mellon study, drawing on elaborate promise, the network could be a powerful en- say, has become a means of circumventing computer records of online activity, was able gine of economic growth in the 21st century. the restrictive codes of tyrannics. But the to measure for the first time what people ac- And as the Carnegie Mellon study is careful reverse of this coin is less attractive; it also tually download, rather than what they say to point out, pornographic image files, de- allows an almost exclusively American con- they want to see. ‘‘We now know what the spite their evident popularity, represent only tagion to ooze outwards, unstoppable, like consumers of computer pornography really about 3 percent of all the messages on the an oil spill, contaminating everyone and ev- look at in the privacy of their own homes,’’ Usenet newsgroups, while the Usenet itself erything in its path. says Marty Rimm, the study’s principal in- represents only 11.5 percent of the traffic on We cannot, of course, prevent: such things vestigator. ‘‘And we’re finding a funda- the Internet. being thought. We may not prevent them mental shift in the kinds of images they de- As shocking and, indeed, legally obscene as being written for self-gratification alone. mand.’’ some of the online porn may be, the re- But, surely, science and the public can some- What the Carnegie Mellon researchers dis- how conspire and co-operate to see that such covered was: searchers found nothing that can’t be found writings as are represented by There’s an awful lot of porn online. In an in specialty magazines or adult bookstores. ‘scat.pedo.torture.snuff’ and the like are nei- 18-month study, the team surveyed 917,410 Most of the material offered by the private ther published nor read, and that they do not sexually explicit pictures, descriptions, short BBS services, in fact, is simply scanned from in consequence have the opportunity to stories and film clips. On those Usenet existing print publications. spread outwards as an electronic contagion newsgroups where digitized images are But pornography is different on the com- from the minds of those who, like stored, 83.5 percent of the pictures were por- puter networks. You can obtain it in the pri- Blackwind, first create them. nographic. vacy of your home—without having to walk The Jeffersonian model for universal free- It is immensely popular. Trading in sexu- into a seedy bookstore or movie house. You dom which Mr. Gingrich so rightly applauds ally explicit imagery, according to the re- can download only those things that turn could not take into account the barbarisms port, is now ‘‘one of the largest (if not the you on, rather than buy an entire magazine of the modern mind. Nor could it imagine largest) recreational applications of users of or video. You can explore different aspects of the genius by which such barbarisms can be computer networks.’’ At one U.S. University, your sexuality without exposing yourself to disseminated as they are today, in seconds, 13 of the 40 most frequently visited communicable diseases or public ridicule. to the remotest and still most innocent cor- newsgroups had names like alt.sex.stories, (Unless, of course, someone gets hold of the ners of the world. Someone, perhaps even the rec.arts.erotica and alt.sex.bondage. computer files tracking your online activi- Speaker of the House of Representatives, is It is a big moneymaker. The great major- ties, as happened earlier this year to a cou- going to have to consider soon the implica- ity (71 percent) of the sexual images on the ple dozen crimson-faced Harvard students.) tions, for ill as well as good, of our venture newsgroups surveyed originate from adult- The great fear of parents and teachers, of out onto the information superhighway, or oriented computer bulletin-board systems course, is not that college students will find else there are going to be some very messy (BBS) whose operators are trying to lure cus- this stuff but that it will fall into the hands electronic traffic accidents. tomers to their private collections of X-rated of those much younger—including some, per- material. There are thousands of these BBS haps, who are not emotionally prepared to [From Time Magazine, June 1995] services, which charge fees (typically $10 to make sense of what they see. $30 a month) and take credit cards; the five Ten-year-old Anders Urmacher, a student CYBERPORN—ONASCREEN NEAR YOU largest have annual revenues in excess of $1 at the Dalton School in New York City who (By Philip Elmer-Dewitt) million. likes to hang out with other kids in the It’s popular, pervasive and surprisingly It is ubiquitous. Using data obtained with Treehouse chat room on America Online, got perverse, according to the first survey of on- permission from BBS operators, the Carnegie E-mail from a stranger that contained a line erotica. And there’s no easy way to Mellon team identified (but did not publish mysterious file with instructions for how to stamp it out. the names of) individual consumers in more download it. He followed the instructions, Sex is everywhere these days—in books, than 2,000 cities in all 50 states and 40 coun- and then he called his mom. When Linda magazines, films, television, music videos tries, territories and provinces around the Mann-Urmacher opened the file, the com- and bus-stop perfume ads. It is printed on world—including some countries like China, puter screen filled with 10 thumbnail-size dial-a-porn business cards and slipped under where possession of pornography can be a pictures showing couples engaged in various windshield wipers. It is acted out by balloon- capital offense. acts of sodomy, heterosexual intercourse and

VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:42 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S26JN5.REC S26JN5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS S9020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 26, 1995 lesbian sex. ‘‘I was not aware that this stuff Larry Pressler of South Dakota, chairman of points, many include such phrases as ‘‘nailed was online,’’ says a shocked Mann-Urmacher. the Commerce committee, which has juris- to a table!’’ and none can be printed in Time. ‘‘Children should not be subjected to these diction over the larger telecommunications- How accurately these images reflect Amer- images.’’ reform act to which it is attached, told Time ica’s sexual interests, however, is a matter of This is the flip side of Vice President Al that he intended to move to table it. some dispute. University of Chicago sociolo- Gore’s vision of an information super- That was before Exon showed up in the gist Edward Laumann, whose 1994 Sex in highway linking every school and library in Senate with his ‘‘blue book.’’ Exon had asked America survey painted a far more humdrum the land. When the kids are plugged in, will a friend to download some of the rawer im- picture of America’s sex life, says the Car- they be exposed to the seamiest sides of ages available online. ‘‘I knew it was bad,’’ negie Mellon study may have captured what human sexuality? Will they fall prey to child he says. ‘‘But then when I got on there, it he calls the ‘‘gaper phenomenon.’’ ‘‘There is molesters hanging out in electronic chat made Playboy and Hustler look like Sunday- a curiosity for things that are extraordinary rooms? It’s precisely these fears that have school stuff.’’ He had the images printed out, and way out,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s like driving by stopped Bonnie Fell of Skokie, Illinois, from stuffed them in a blue folder and invited his a horrible accident. No one wants to be in it, signing up for the Internet access her three colleagues to stop by his desk on the Senate but we all slow down to watch.’’ boys say they desperately need. floor to view them. At the end of the de- Other sociologists point out that the dif- ‘‘They could get bombarded with X-rated bate—which was carried live on c-span—few ference between the Chicago and Carnegie porn, and I wouldn’t have any idea,’’ she Senators wanted to cast a nationally tele- Mellon reports may be more apparent than says. Mary Veed, a mother of three from vised vote that might later be characterized real. Those 1 million or 2 million people who nearby Hinsdale, makes a point of trying to as pro-pornography. The bill passed 84 to 16. keep up with her computer-literate 12-year- Civil libertarians were outraged. Mike download pictures from the Internet rep- old, but sometimes has to settle for moni- Godwin, staff counsel for the Electronic resent a self-selected group with an interest toring his phone bill. ‘‘Once they get to be a Frontier Foundation, complained that the in erotica. The Sex in America respondents, certain age, boys don’t always tell Mom indecency portion of the bill would trans- by contrast, were a few thousand people se- what they do,’’ she says. form the vast library of the Internet into a lected to represent a cross section of all ‘‘We face a unique, disturbing and urgent children’s reading room, where only subjects American. Still, the new research is a gold circumstance, because it is children who are suitable for kids could be discussed. ‘‘It’s mine for psychologists, social scientists, the computer experts in our nation’s fami- government censorship,’’ said Marc computer marketers and anybody with an in- lies,’’ said Republican Senator Dan Coats of Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Infor- terest in human boards, they left a digital Indiana during the debate over the con- mation Center. ‘‘The Amendment shouldn’t trail of their transactions, allowing the por- troversial anti-cyberporn bill he co-spon- end where the Internet begins.’’ nographers to compile data bases about their sored with Senator Exon. The key issue, according to legal scholars, buying habits and sexual tastes. The more According to at least one of those ex- is whether the Internet is a print medium sophisticated operators were able to adjust perts—16-year-old David Slifka of Manhat- (like a newspaper), which enjoys strong pro- their inventory and their descriptions to tan—the danger of being bombarded with un- tection against government interference, or match consumer demand. wanted pictures is greatly exaggerated. ‘‘If a broadcast medium (like television), which Nobody did this more effectively than Rob- you don’t want them you won’t get them,’’ may be subject to all sorts of government ert Thomas, owner of the Amateur Action says the veteran Internet surfer. Private control. Perhaps the most significant import BBS in Milpitas, California, and a kind of adult BBSs require proof of age (usually a of the Exon bill, according to EFF’s Godwin, modern-day Marquis de Sade, according to driver’s license) and are off-limits to minors, is that it would place the computer networks the Carnegie Mellon report. He is currently and kids have to master some fairly under the jurisdiction of the Federal Com- serving time in an obscenity case that may daunting computer science before they can munications Commission, which enforces, be headed for the Supreme Court. turn so-called binary files on the Usenet into among other rules, the injunction against Thomas, whose BBS is the online-porn high-resolution color pictures. ‘‘The chances using the famous seven dirty words on the of randomly coming across them are unbe- market leader, discovered that he could radio. In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans boost sales by trimming soft- and hard-core lievably slim,’’ says Slifka. conducted last week by Yankelovich Part- While groups like the Family Research images from his data base while front-load- ners, respondents were sharply split on the Council insist that online child molesters ing his files with pictures of sex acts with issue: 42 percent were for FCC-like control represent a clear and present danger, there is animals (852) and nude prepubescent children over sexual content on the computer net- no evidence that it is any greater than the (more than 5,000), his two most popular cat- thousand other threats children face every works; 48 percent were against it. egories of porn. He also used copywriting By week’s end the balance between pro- day. Ernie Allen, executive director of the tricks to better serve his customers’ fan- tecting speech and curbing pornography National Center for Missing and Exploited tasies. For example, he described more than seemed to be tipping back toward the lib- Children, acknowledges that there have been 1,200 of his pictures as depicting sex scenes ertarians. In a move that surprised conserv- 10 or 12 ‘‘fairly high-profile cases’’ in the between family members (father and daugh- ative supporters, House Speaker Newt Ging- past year of children being seduced or lured ter, mother and son), even though there was rich denounced the Exon amendment. ‘‘It is online into situations where they are victim- no evidence that any of the participants clearly a violation of free speech, and it’s a ized. Kids who are not online are also at risk, were actually related. These ‘‘incest’’ images however; more than 800,000 children are re- violation of the right of adults to commu- were among his biggest sellers, accounting ported missing every year in the U.S. nicate with each other,’’ he told a caller on for 10 percent of downloads. a cable-TV show. It was a key defection, be- Yet it is in the name of the children and The words that worked were sometimes cause Gingrich will preside over the com- their parents that lawmakers are racing to quite revealing. Straightforward oral sex, for puter-decency debate when it moves to the fight cyberporn. The first blow was struck by example, generally got a lukewarm response. House in July. Meanwhile, two U.S. Rep- Senators Exon and Coats, who earlier this But when Thomas described the same images resentatives, Republican Christopher Cox of year introduced revisions to an existing law using words like choke or choking, consumer California and Democrat Ron Wyden of Or- called the Communications Decency Act. demand doubled. egon, were putting together an anti-Exon The idea was to extend regulations written Such findings may cheer antipornography to govern the dial-a-porn industry into the amendment that would bar federal regula- tion of the Internet and help parents find activists; as feminist writer Andrea Dworkin computer networks. The bill proposed to out- puts it, ‘‘the whole purpose of pornography is law obscene material and impose fines of up ways to block material they found objection- able. to hurt women,’’ Catharine MacKinnon, a to $100,000 and prison terms of up to two professor of law at the University of Michi- years on anyone who knowingly makes ‘‘in- Coincidentally, in the closely watched case gan, goes further. Women are doubly vio- decent’’ material available to children under of a University of Michigan student who pub- lated by pornography, she writes in Vindica- 18. lished a violent sex fantasy on the Internet The measure had problems from the start. and was charged with transmitting a threat tion and Resistance, one of three essays in In its original version it would have made to injure or kidnap across state lines, a fed- the forthcoming Georgetown Law Journal online-service providers criminally liable for eral judge in Detroit last week dismissed the that offer differing views on the Carnegie any obscene communications that passed charges. The judge ruled that while Jake Mellon report. They are violated when it is through their systems—a provision that, Baker’s story might be deeply offensive, it made and exposed to further violence again given the way the networks operate, would was not a crime. and again every time it is consumed. ‘‘The have put the entire Internet at risk. Exon How the Carnegie Mellon report will affect question pornography poses in cyberspace,’’ and Coats revised the bill but left in place the delicate political balance on the she writes, ‘‘is the same one it poses every- the language about using ‘‘indecent’’ words cyberporn debate is anybody’s guess. Con- where else: Whether anything will be done online. ‘‘It’s a frontal assault on the First servatives thumbing through it for rhetor- about it.’’ Amendment,’’ says Harvard law professor ical ammunition will find plenty. Appendix But not everyone agrees with Dworkin and Laurence Tribe. Even veteran prosecutors B lists the most frequently downloaded files MacKinnon, by any means; even some femi- ridicule it. ‘‘It won’t pass scrutiny even in from a popular adult BBS, providing both nist think there is a place in life—and the misdemeanor court,’’ says one. the download count and the two-line descrip- Internet—for erotica. In her new book, De- The Exon bill had been written off for dead tions posted by the board’s operator. Suffice fending Pornography, Nadine Strossen ar- only a few weeks ago. Republican Senator it to say that they all end in exclamation gues that censoring sexual expression would

VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:42 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S26JN5.REC S26JN5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS June 26, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S9021 do women more harm than good, under- Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I thank my to prosecute zealously. The most recent raid mining their equality, their autonomy and friend and colleague from my neigh- occurred last week in Cincinnati, targeting their freedom. boring State of Iowa, whose usual good not only purveyors of porn but more than 100 The Justice Department, for it part, has judgment has never been questioned by individuals who had allegedly downloaded not asked for new antiporn legislation. Dis- pornographic images of children via AOL. tributing obscene material across state lines this individual. I thank him very much Most disturbing of all are the tales of sex- is already illegal under federal law, and child for addressing this matter. ual predators using the Internet and com- pornography in particular is vigorously pros- I, too, read the article that he ref- mercial online services to spirit children ecuted. Some 40 people in 14 states were ar- erenced in Time magazine. I got in on away from their keyboards. Until now par- rested two years ago in Operation Longarm just the end of his remarks. ents have believed that no physical harm for exchanging kiddie porn online. And one May I inquire of my friend from could possibly result when their progeny of the leading characters in the Carnegie Iowa, did he have printed in the were huddled safely in the bedroom or den, Mellon study—a former Rand McNally exec- tapping on the family computer. But then RECORD that portion of the Time maga- utive named Robert Copella, who left book came news of cases like the 13-year-old Ken- publishing to make his fortune selling zine article from this morning’s Time tucky girl found in Los Angeles after sup- pedophilia on the networks—was extradited magazine? posedly being lured by a grown-up cyberpal. from Tijuana, and is now awaiting sen- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The These reports have triggered a sort of pa- tencing in a New Jersey jail. Chair will observe he did. rental panic about cyberspace. Parents are For technical reasons, it is extremely dif- Mr. EXON. I thank the Chair. rightfully confused, faced with hard choices ficult to stamp out anything on the Inter- If it was not referenced, I would ref- about whether to expose their children to net—particularly images stored on the erence the graphic picture on the front the alleged benefits of cyberspace when car- nal pitfalls lie ahead. As our culture moves Usenet newsgroup. As Internet pioneer John of Time magazine today, which I think Gilmore famously put it, ‘‘The Net inter- unrelentingly toward the digital realm, some prets censorship as damage and routes puts into focus very distinctly and di- questions—and answers—are finally coming around it.’’ There are border issues as well. rectly what my friend from Iowa and into focus. Other countries on the Internet—France, for this Senator has been talking about for HOW MUCH SEX IS THERE IN CYBERSPACE? instance—are probably no more interested in a long, long time. A lot. Brian Reid, director of the Network having their messages screened by U.S. cen- I would also reference for the RECORD Systems Laboratory at Digital Equipment sors than Americans would be in having and ask unanimous consent to have Corp., reports that one of the most popular theirs screened by, say, the government of printed in the RECORD, interestingly of the thousands of Usenet discussion groups Saudi Arabia. enough, simultaneously a similar story is the ‘‘alt.sex’’ group. He estimates that on Historians say it should come as no sur- a monthly basis between 180,000 and 500,000 prise that the Internet—the most democratic along the same lines that appeared in this morning’s weekly edition of News- users drop in. A glance at some World Wide of media—would lead to new calls for censor- Web sites shows that while the digital home ship. The history of pornography and efforts week magazine. of the Smithsonian Institution took seven to suppress it are inextricably bound up with There being no objection, the article weeks to gather 1.9 million visits, or ‘‘hits,’’ the rise of new media and the emergence of was ordered to be printed in the Playboy’s electronic headquarters received democracy. According to Walter Kendrick, RECORD, as follows: 4.7 million hits in a seven-day period last author of The Secret Museum: Pornography [From Newsweek, July 3, 1995] month. in Modern Culture, the modern concept of And this week the Georgetown Law Jour- NO PLACE FOR KIDS? pornography was invented in the 19th cen- nal will release a survey headed by Marty tury by European gentlemen whose main A PARENT’S GUIDE TO SEX ON THE NET Rimm, a 30-year-old researcher at Carnegie concern was to keep obscene material away (By Steven Levy) Mellon University. In his paper, ‘‘Marketing from women and the lower classes. Things When the annals of cyberspace are Pornography on the Information Super- got out of hand with the spread of literacy uploaded for future generations, digital his- highway,’’ Rimm concentrated mostly on and education, which made pornography torians will undoubtedly include a scene adults-only bulletin boards (the equivalent available to anybody who could read. Now, from the Senate chamber earlier this month: of X-rated bookshops). He provides solid evi- on the computer networks, anybody with a Nebraska Democrat James Exon brandishing dence that there’s loads of hard-core stuff in computer and a modem can not only con- a thin binder now known as the blue book. cyberspace. Rimm wrote a computer pro- sume pornography but distribute it as well. Inside were images snatched from the shad- gram to analyze descriptions of 917,410 dirty On the Internet, anybody can be Bob ows and thrust into the center of public dis- pictures (he examined about 10,000 actual im- Guccione. course. Women bound and being burned by ages, to check the realiability of the descrip- That might not be a bad idea, says Carlin cigarettes. Pierced with swords. Having sex tions). His conclusion: ‘‘I think there’s al- Meyer, a professor at New York Law School with a German shepherd. As Exon puts it, most no question that we’re seeing an un- whose Georgetown essay takes a far less images that are ‘‘repulsive and far off base.’’ precedented availability and demand of ma- apocalyptic view than MacKinnon’s. She ar- Images from the Net. terial like sadomasochism, bestiality, vag- gues that if you don’t like the images of sex Exon compiled his blue book to persuade inal and rectal fisting, eroticized the pornographers offer, the appropriate re- his Senate colleagues to pass his Commu- urination...and pedophilia.’’ sponse is not to suppress them but to over- nications Decency Act. Partially moved by a HOW EASY IS IT TO AVOID THE SEXUAL whelm them with healthier, more realistic private showing in the Senate cloakroom, MATERIAL? ones. Sex on the Internet, she maintains, they did so, overwhelmingly. It is not clear might actually be good for young people. Donna Rice Hughes (yes, that Donna Rice), whether the act, which places strict limits ‘‘[Cyberspace] is a safe space in which to ex- spokesperson for an anti-pornography group on all speech in computer networks, will find plore the forbidden and the taboo,’’ she called Enough is Enough!, claims that ‘‘chil- its way into law, but its Senate passage was writes. ‘‘It offers the possibility for genuine, dren are going online innocently and naively a transforming blow against the Internet unembarrassed conversations about accurate running across material that’s illegal even empire. Even the most vehement of the as well as fantasy images of sex.’’ for adults.’’ But the way the Internet works, Internet’s defenders now face a real problem: That sounds easier than it probably is. that sort of stuff doesn’t tend to pop up how to maintain free speech when well- Pornography is powerful stuff, and as long as uninvited. ‘‘When you watch TV it comes chronicled excesses give the impression that there is demand for it, there will always be right to you,’’ says Donna Hoffman, asso- much of cyberspace is a cesspool. a supply. Better software tools may help ciate professor of business at Vanderbilt Uni- Indeed, most of the dispatches from the check the worst abuses, but there will never versity. ‘‘But on the Internet, you’re in an electronic world these days seem to dwell on be a switch that will cut it off entirely—not environment with 30 million channels. It’s the dark side. The most prevalent type of without destroying the unbridled expression up to you to decide where to go. You don’t anecdote involves someone like Susan that is the source of the Internet’s (and de- have to download the images on Tilghman, a medical doctor in Fairfax, Va. mocracy’s) greatest strength. The hard alt.sex.binaries.’’ Last fall she hooked the family computer to truth, says John Perry Barlow, co-founder of Groups with ‘‘binaries’’ are the picture America Online (AOL). Her sons, 12 and 15 the EFF and father of three young daugh- files, the ones containing the most shocking years old, enjoyed it so much that she and ters, is that the burden ultimately falls images. To find them, one needs a good sense her husband sought to find out why. Clicking where it always has: on the parents. ‘‘If you of digital direction. Depending on the soft- on files their boys had read, the astonished don’t want your children fixating on filth,’’ ware you have, you may need a mastery of parents found ‘‘pornographic pictures in full he says, ‘‘better step up to the tough task of some codes in the notoriously arcane Unix color,’’ says Tilghman, ‘‘We were horrified.’’ raising them to find it as distasteful as you computer language, or it can involve a few She pulled the modem plus immediately. do yourself.’’ well-chosen clicks of the mouse. In any case, Then there are the actual busts of online there’s no way you get that stuff by acci- Mr. EXON addressed the Chair. pornographic rings. Just as in the physical dent. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- world, traffic in obscene material is illegal Kids are very hungry to view sexual mate- ator from Nebraska. in cyberspace, and authorities are beginning rials, and left to their own devices they will

VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:42 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S26JN5.REC S26JN5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS S9022 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 26, 1995 find that the Internet provides them with an ing for government regulation, would lead shocked, and even more so when her daugh- unprecedented bonanza. In predigital days, Speaker Newt Gingrich and his minions to ter casually told her, ‘‘This is what happens getting one’s hands on hot pictures required defy their allies in the religious right, whose when we’re online.’’ ‘‘They thought it was running an often impenetrable gantlet of ‘‘Contract With the American Family’’ calls just a crackpot,’’ says Shao, a Bethesda, Md., drugstore clerks and newsstand operators, for ‘‘protecting children from exposure to marketing executive. Instead of pulling the and finding really hardcore material was out pornography on the Internet.’’ cyberplug, however, Shao took pains to edu- of the question. Not so with the Net. Frank The question was answered last Tuesday cate herself about online sex. She even en- Moretti, associate headmaster of the Dalton night when a caller on a cable-TV talk show gaged in some political activism, signing on School in New York City, which offers Inter- asked Gingrich what he thought of Exon’s with a pro-Exon anti-pornography group. net access beginning in junior high, thinks amendment. ‘‘I think it has no meaning and And ultimately, Shao’s family purchased its that we can deal with that. ‘‘There’s a candy no real impact . . .,’’ the speaker said. ‘‘It is own America Online subscription after her store around the corner from our school that clearly a violation of free speech and it’s a daughter’s close encounter with a pixilated has just about every kind of pornographic violation of the rights of adults to commu- stranger. image,’’ he says. ‘‘The challenge is to help nicate with each other.’’ If there were more built-in programs like our children use self-discipline.’’ But that was not the worst news for would- SurfWatch available to her, Shao ways, she’d probably use them. But in the meantime she IS THE INTERNET A HAVEN FOR PREDATORS? be monitors of cyberspace. Conservative Re- publican Chris Cox of California has teamed is making do with the more old-fashioned After years of online activity, ‘‘there have with liberal Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon method of talking to her kids—and trusting been about a dozen high-profile cases,’’ says to develop the grandiosely entitled Internet them. ‘‘I’ve warned my children about the Ernie Allen, president of the Arlington, Va.- Freedom and Family Empowerment Act. Ba- obscene material out there, and I trust them based National Center for Missing and Ex- sically, the bill would forbid the federal gov- not to access it.’’ As careful parents will do, ploited Children. ‘‘It’s not a huge number, ernment from creating any regulatory agen- she monitors the family online activity but it does indicate that there are risks. But cy to govern the Internet, relying instead on somewhat, by tracking the hours they are there are risks in everything a child does. a variety of means (not yet determined) to logged on. But as with other passages—going Our concern is the nature of the technology. protect children. Cox hopes that such legisla- out alone, driving a car—ultimately, you It creates a false sense of security.’’ tion will encourage a free-market solution to have to let kids grow up. Even if some of the What parents should warn kids about is the cybersex from . . . more new technology. growing up happens online. classic scenario described by Detective Bill Mr. EXON. The story Newsweek tells Dworn, head of the Sexually Exploited Child CAN HIGH-TECH SOLUTIONS HELP? Ultimately, James Exon’s greatest con- is not dissimilar. Alarming facts have Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department: been brought out into the open even ‘‘The pervert can get on any bulletin board tribution to the protection of children may and chat with kids all night long. He lies not be his legislation but the fear of it has further with the publication in these about his age and makes friends. As soon as created in Silicon Valley and its virtual en- two national magazines. The Newsweek he can get a telephone number or address, vironments. Already parents can buy some article is entitled ‘‘Sex Online: What he’s likely to look up the kid and molest him sophisticated software to block children’s Parents Should Know.’’ or her.’’ In real life, this hardly ever hap- access to questionable material. More is on I very much appreciate having the pens. Most online services have policies to the way; two weeks ago Microsoft, Netscape time to take a look at the legislation monitor chat rooms, particularly those des- and the Progressive Networks joined to- the Senator from Iowa has introduced. ignated as ‘‘kids-only.’’ No guarantees, but gether to develop new prophylactic devices. I do not know how it is significantly ‘‘The Exon amendment certainly raised con- not many kidnappers. different from the measure that was in- And if the child is propositioned? ‘‘It hap- sciousness,’’ says Mike Homer of Netscape. pens, but it’s less upsetting if a child is pre- ‘‘But we believe there is a variety of fairly troduced by Senator COATS and myself, pared for it,’’ says Sherry Turkle, an MIT straightforward tools that would allow us to known as the Decency Act, and ap- professor whose coming book, ‘‘Life on the self-regulate.’’ More than 100 companies have proved on the Senate floor by a vote of Screen,’’ includes data about the experiences called, asking to help. Another, paragraph 86 to 14, if I remember it correctly. of nearly 300 kids on the Net. ‘‘Better to complementary, scheme in the works is I simply say, this is an ongoing bat- warn the child and instruct him to say, ‘I’m KidCode, a means by which the addresses on tle. If we have not done anything else, not interested,’ and just leave.’’ the World Wide Web will have voluntary rat- I hope all will recognize today at least All the publicity about predators has tar- ings embedded. ‘‘Places that provide erotica Americans know that there is a real, nished the image of chat rooms. But the talk on the Internet are wild about the idea of real problem, primarily with regard to areas may have value. ‘‘Kids are finding voluntary ratings,’’ says Nathaniel ways to experiment with self-presentation,’’ Borenstein, designer of KidCode. ‘‘They don’t our children, our innocent children—at says Turkle. She’s talked with kids about want to sell to kids.’’ least as we like to think of them. ‘‘Net sex,’’ where kids dabble in interactive Meanwhile, one solution has already hit It seems to me all of the profit-mak- erotica like this: the market: SurfWatch, created by an ing motives are now sizing the Internet I’m kissing you. eponymous Silicon Valley firm. Its software to make money on, and I applaud the You fondle my hair. works by matching a potential Net destina- efforts of the Senator from Iowa and I fondle your breast. tion to a proprietary list of forbidden sites. the legislation that he just indicated Sometimes there is conscious gender-swap- In addition, the $50 software package looks he intended to introduce with regard to ping. Sometimes things go farther than the for objectionable language. Once parents or kids intended. Still, Turkle thinks that educators install it, they have at least one crime taking over a more important there may be benefits in this; after all, no line of defense. ‘‘This is the kind of software part of the Internet. That happens one gets pregnant in cyberspace. ‘‘Adoles- that can offer the individual choice as op- wherever there is an exciting new de- cence used to be a timeout, sexually speak- posed to censorship,’’ says SurfWatch vice velopment. ing,’’ she says. ‘‘But in the age of AIDS, sex- president Jay Friendland. Once again, I emphasize this Senator ual experimentation is a deadly game. The Last week a bogus press release circulated has followed with keen interest the de- Internet is becoming a way to play with on the Net for a fictional product called Babe velopment of the Internet. It so hap- identity, where adolescents can develop a Watch that ‘‘looks exactly like SurfWatch pens this Senator probably is one of sense of themselves.’’ but instead of blocking access, actually goes the few Members of this body who was out and locates Web sites with good pictures CAN NEW LAWS SUCCESSFULLY ADDRESS THE on the original Internet. The original PROBLEM? of babes.’’ Undoubtedly a real-life version is in the works. ‘‘If you’re a 16-year-old A-qual- Internet, the only thing like it, was the The Exon amendment is very broad. It amateur radio network that I became could hamper communication between ity hacker, you’ll be able to turn us off,’’ adults—the essence of online activity—and says Friendland. involved as a very young lad, 16 or 17 might not even solve the problems that kids WILL THE PROBLEM EVER GO AWAY? years old, growing up in Lake Andes, face. ‘‘It would be a mistake to drive us, in The bottom line when it comes to kids, sex SD, and I communicated, dit-dit da-dit, a moment of hysteria, to a solution that is and the Internet is that no matter what laws with people all over the United States. unconstitutional, would stultify technology, we pass and what high-tech solutions we de- Of course you had to have a license to and wouldn’t even fulfill its mission,’’ argues vise, the three of them together will never be be an amateur radio operator; you had * * * Berman, director of the Center for De- less volatile than the first two alone. We can to pass certain tests. I guess no one mocracy and Technology. mitigate but not eliminate the drawbacks of ever thought about that first Internet But Berman and others have a secret weap- high tech; there’s no way to get its benefits being used for the purposes that this on: the House of Representatives. ‘‘There’s a without them. generational difference between the House It’s a trade-off that Patricia Shao under- Internet is being used. and Senate,’’ says Berman. ‘‘They under- stands. About six weeks ago, her 13-year-old Nevertheless, as the senior member stand the technology and they’re not afraid daughter, visiting a friend, was in an online- of the Armed Services Committee I was of it.’’ The only question was whether this service chat room when they were propo- very much involved in the Internet de- pro-technology impulse, along with a loath- sitioned to have ‘‘cybersex.’’ Shao was velopment. Some people wonder where

VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:42 May 28, 2008 Jkt 041999 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 J:\ODA15\1995_F~1\S26JN5.REC S26JN5 mmaher on MIKETEMP with SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS June 26, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S9023 did the Internet come from? It came speak in morning business for up to 10 Obviously, Mr. President, this is of from and was borne by taxpayers’ dol- minutes. concern to me because this directly af- lars, out of the national defense budg- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without fects two of those national laboratories et. It spread far beyond that at this objection, it is so ordered. in my home State of New Mexico, time, and I certainly say and empha- f Sandia and Los Alamos National Lab- size once again, I am a strong sup- oratories. SCIENCE EDUCATION porter of the Internet, the information First, let me describe the impact of superhighway. But for a long, long Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I the elimination of the Science Edu- time, beginning seriously a little over want to speak for a few minutes here cation and Technical Information Pro- a year ago, I began to develop legisla- this morning to oppose cuts for science gram. This cut eliminates the central tion that would hopefully make the in- education that were made June 20, in coordinating and evaluation mecha- formation superhighway a safer high- the House Appropriations Committee, nism for all of the Department of En- way for kids and families to travel. The related to the Energy Department. ergy education activities, which is the legislation that was passed by the Sen- Congress is engaged in an important Office of Science Education and Tech- ate on a 86 to 14 vote within the last process to reduce the Federal budget nical Information. In eliminating this week or so was a follow-on to a pro- and I support that process. I recognize office, Congress would eliminate the posal that I addressed and attached to very difficult choices will have to be administrative infrastructure for other the telecommunications bill out of the made. But I want to be sure, to the ex- Department of Energy science edu- Commerce Committee last year. tent I can, that the process remains cation offices’ programs, the only De- The concept of all of these has been thoughtful and maintains our national partment of Energy office in which to make a constructive suggestion, rec- commitment to improvement in edu- education is not just an ancillary func- ognizing constitutional rights. Like cation and our national investment in tion. education, at the same time that we that portion referred to by the Senator In addition, this cut would eliminate proceed toward a balanced budget. Cuts from Iowa, the measure crafted by my- the laboratory cooperative science cen- being proposed for science education in self and Senator COATS and our staffs, ters, which leverage the much larger the Department of Energy appropria- with the help of an awful lot of people, investment in science and technology tion do not meet that test of thought- does provide protection, constitutional expertise residing in the Department of fulness and support for investment in guarantees oftentimes supported by Energy Laboratory System. These cen- education. the courts in a whole series of areas in- ters connect thousands of students and In 1989, President Bush met with the cluding the laws that we have always teachers each year in high schools, col- 50 Governors throughout this country had regarding obscenity on the tele- leges, and graduate programs with sci- in an education summit in Charlottes- phone lines and also laws similarly entists at our Department of Energy ville, VA. That was a historic occasion against transportation of pornographic laboratories. The centers provide train- because for the first time the Gov- and obscene materials through the U.S. ing and mentoring, and hands-on lab- ernors and the President met together mail. Further, our law incorporates the oratory experiences both at the labora- to discuss that important issue of how protections under the first amendment tories themselves and at local public to improve education in the country. that have been argued out and thor- schools and universities. They provide In 1990, they published goals for this oughly discussed and held by the internships, faculty research opportu- country, and one of those goals, which courts under the Dial-a-Porn statutes, nities, and professional development I believe was an extremely important which is another form of pornography. enhancements and lab-school partner- goal for us to commit ourselves to, was It is safe to say, the issue has been ships. They also help support the De- the goal of making this country first in engaged. I think that is for the good. partment of Energy’s scientists’ par- the world in math and science edu- Once again, I cannot speak for my co- ticipation in a variety of State and cation by the year 2000. This is the sponsor, Senator COATS, or any cospon- local systemic education reform activi- backdrop against which we need to sor of the measure that passed the Sen- ties, such as the National Science judge what we are doing in this appro- ate, but this Senator simply says I am Foundation’s State systemic reform priations process here in the Congress willing to listen to any improvements initiatives. or changes that should be made in this in these weeks. These cuts will weaken the pipeline bill. But I certainly am not going to I am told that the House appropria- of well-trained scientists supported by stand by and see it watered down to the tions bill, that I referred to before, sig- the 73 percent of programs funds that place where it is totally meaningless. nificantly reduces the $160 million for go to universities to train future engi- Therefore, I say I think we have ac- science education embedded in various neers, technicians, and scientists for complished a great deal by clearly, for parts of the Department of Energy, and current and future work force needs. the first time, illuminating and bring- it eliminates altogether the funding for They will eliminate Department of En- ing this to the attention of parents of two line items which are focused en- ergy work to support and strengthen the United States of America. And par- tirely on education. Those two line the caliber of science and math edu- ents still are required, I suggest, to items are: cation at the secondary and at the col- play a key role in how we develop this First, the University and Science lege levels, and the 1996 priorities for and how it is administered. But the Education Program in the Department work force development, systemic edu- parents, I think, cannot do it alone. of Energy Office of Science Education cation reform, science literacy, evalua- Therefore, I hope we can continue to and Technical Information. The House tion, and dissemination. work together in a constructive fash- appropriations mark for this program ion and not listen to the voices that has reduced the funding from the pro- Mr. President, the Department of En- simply say, ‘‘I want what I want when posed $55 million, which the President ergy education cuts will have a par- I want it on the Internet and I don’t asked for in his budget, to absolutely ticularly damaging effect for those who care what ill effect that might have on zero. benefit from the education activities of kids.’’ The second of these two line items is Sandia National Laboratory and Los We have to continue to work to- the Department of Energy Technology Alamos National Laboratory in my gether. I hope there is a way to solve Transfer and Education Program for home State of New Mexico. this problem for the good of all. Department of Energy Office of De- First, they will suffer education cuts I yield the floor. fense Programs. The House mark for as part of the centers that I just de- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- this program was reduced from $249 scribed. Second, they will also suffer ator from New Mexico. million in fiscal year 1996—that was the loss of their part of the additional The Senator from New Mexico is ad- the proposed level—to $15 million, in- $20 million for education programs con- vised we have 1 more minute remaining cluding a cut to zero funding for the $20 centrated at Sandia, Los Alamos, and in morning business. million line item earmarked for at Lawrence Livermore National Lab- Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask science education at our three national oratories, the Nation’s three weapons unanimous consent I be allowed to weapons laboratories. laboratories.

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