COMPUTING RESEARCH NEWS May 1995
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COMPUTING RESEARCH NEWS The News Journal of the Computing Research Association May 1995 Vol. 7/No. 3 Lawmakers seek to ban online “indecency” BY Juan Antonio Osuna with “telecommunications device.” CRA Staff However, within the historical Goodbye, alt.sex.bondage. Hello, Someone found guilty of originating an “indecent” context of judiciary interpretations, rec.kids.romper.room. some say the bill raises new complexi- The ever-proliferating sex groups communication, whether public or private, could face ties and threats to civil liberties. on the Internet and the increasing “The bill attempts to apply to online media many restrictions that boldness of posters have finally raised up to two years in jail and a $100,000 fine. eyebrows in Washington. And, if do not apply to printed or verbal certain lawmakers have their way, the expression,” the EFF statement said. heyday of unrestrained expression on “Transmitting an online version of a the Internet may soon subside. ‘lascivious’ book could subject the “I want to make the information extend current law to the digital On March 30, the Senate sender to unreasonable fines and Commerce Committee voted superhighway safe to travel for world. “My amendment [to the imprisonment, while mailing the unanimously in favor of the Commu- children and families,” said Sen. James Pressler bill] would simply apply the book in hard copy or reading aloud nications Decency Act of 1995, Exon (D-NE), author of the bill. same laws that protect against from the book would be protected legislation that would criminalize any But civil libertarians argue that obscene, indecent or harassing under the First Amendment.” news postings or even private E-mail making the Internet safe for children telephone calls to computers.” All laws depend upon interpreta- should not be done at the expense of tion by the judiciary system, especially judged “obscene, lewd, lascivious, Modernize versus modify filthy or indecent.” everyone else’s free speech. laws that tiptoe around the Constitu- The full committee reported the The legislation “may fail to A Senate committee report tion. The Exon bill, if passed, would legislation as part of Sen. Larry distinguish between consensual and repeatedly refers to the act as simply most likely force the Supreme Court to Pressler’s (R-SD) sweeping telecom- non-consensual activities and “modernizing” existing law. revisit the obscenity-versus-free-speech munications reform bill, S 652. Any between private and public commu- However, civil liberties groups question, as the bill would throw into person found guilty of originating an nications,” an Electronic Frontier worry that the bill does more than the federal judiciary spotlight vast areas “indecent” communication, whether Foundation (EFF) statement said. “A modernize. “I think it would be a of human communication that have public or private, could face up to steamy love note sent privately mistake to try to regulate Internet traditionally gone unnoticed. two years in jail and a $100,000 fine. between spouses could be a criminal communications as we currently Civil libertarians said they only This bill would apply to telephone, violation of this statute.” regulate the telephone network,” said hope that the outcome of this cable, television broadcast or Exon sees his legislation as Marc Rotenberg, director of the revisiting would at least be consistent computer transmissions. nothing more than an attempt to Electronic Privacy Information Center with past court decisions. (EPIC). “It’s clear that this is a very For instance, the courts have different type of communications reserved more stringent interpreta- Inside CRN environment, and I think the proposal tions of laws governing telephone use for situations in which a person gets PAGE 2: Opinions will raise a whole host of problems.” PAGE 8-9: Policy News an unwanted, harassing phone call. PAGE 3: Expanding the Pipeline PAGE 10: Canadian News On its face, the bill seems to do However, consenting adults retain PAGES 4-5: Association News PAGE 11: Professional Opportunities nothing more than swap the word PAGES 6-7: Funding Agencies PAGE 12: Conference News “telephone,” found in current law, Continued on Page 9 News Analysis Outlook for R&D funding unsure PAID Non-Profit US Postage Organization Permit No. 3778 BY Fred W. Weingarten Actually, House Republicans leadership will grow as Congress Washington, DC CRA Staff faced two major challenges during begins to vote on more favored Time-Sensitive Material To the relief of most in the 104th the first few months of this session. programs or programs with stronger Congress, including the Republicans The first challenge was to meet the public support. and their staffs, the first 100 days of promises of the Contract With The freshmen claim they do not the first session have ground to a America. The second, and equally care about re-election and thus are close. As promised, the House voted daunting, challenge was to organize ready to take an unpopular course of on and, in many cases, passed 10 themselves as a majority party. action. But widespread unpopularity major pieces of legislation, ranging Republicans had to organize the could cost them their own seats, from detailed reorganization of House, invent operating procedures, Republican control of Congress and a arcane congressional procedures to establish a legislative agenda— chance to win the presidency. It will such sweeping changes as tax cuts beyond the contract—and allocate be interesting to see how the rhetoric and reform of the welfare system. political leadership, particularly of revolution and the reality of Celebrations by some Republican between the revolutionary incoming political power shape internal politics House members were countered by freshman class and old-timers who in the House for the rest of this year. criticisms from outside spoilsports, had served for many years as minority The real evaluation of congres- including Republicans. The critics party leaders. Although most votes on sional performance will come from argued that the Senate had yet to act the floor so far have displayed unanim- the voters in the next presidential on most of the 10 items. And even if ity, stresses between these groups are election. From that more distant the more controversial ones were likely to grow more serious over the perspective, the 100-day contract passed, they would likely do so only year. could turn out to be far less signifi- in a significantly modified form. The freshman class has, by all cant than it looks now. But it does Some Republican senators reports, been remarkably cohesive not seem too soon to ask whether we reportedly were less than pleased at and single-minded about the revolu- have learned anything about future being thrust into the role of shock tion they claim they were sent to prospects for federal research programs, Washington to carry out. The long- absorber and legislative filter, particularly computing research. standing traditions of new members particularly because some of them Early this year, people in the finding more senior mentors, keeping were planning to announce or had computing research community quiet for a while and learning the already announced their candidacy expressed great concern about the ropes have been ignored. Until now, for nomination to the presidency. prospects for funding in their field. budget and program cuts have Cynics also pointed out that, in Two basic questions were asked: focused on areas in which some the rush to pass contract legislation, 1) Would frequently expressed much of the regular business of the reasonable consensus could be found. CRA NW Ave. 1875 Connecticut Suite 718 DC 20009 Washington, House had been put off. But friction with the more senior Continued on Page 2 COMPUTING RESEARCH NEWS May 1995 Opinions Computing Research Association HPCC still a worthy program Board Officers BY Fred W. appropriateness of federal HPCC the connection with research, but the David A. Patterson Weingarten support to broaden and cover all case is there to be made. The Chair computing research support. CRA Staff Thomas congressional information University of California, Berkeley Some senior researchers in the The federal system that the House leadership computing field have been suggesting Maria Klawe government’s takes so much pride in connects to Vice Chair lately that we need to find a new the Internet, is based on a Web server High-Perfor- University of British Columbia engine, because this one is running and uses a University of Massachu- mance Comput- Gregory R. Andrews out of gas. While advancing under setts data query system, all of which ing and Com- Secretary the HPCC flag, computing research have come from NSF and Advanced University of Arizona munications came of age. It moved out of the Research Projects Agency research Michael R. Garey initiative has been the focus of shadows and became a leading, highly programs. Treasurer attention in the computing research visible component of federal science A strong HPCC program, if AT&T Bell Laboratories community for about 13 years. Its and technology policy. Budgets grew properly focused, can help the nation origins date back to a report prepared enormously, as did the influence and Board Members develop and achieve the full potential by an ad hoc study panel funded by the workload of the Washington comput- of a new national information infra- W. Richards Adrion National Science Foundation and ing research bureaucracy. structure. This argument was made University of Massachusetts, Amherst chaired by Peter Lax, the noted applied On the other hand persuasively in a recent report, Evolving Frances E. Allen mathematician at the Courant the High-Performance Computing and IBM T.J. Watson Research Center Institute. HPCC has been an official There are two problems with this Communications Initiative to Support the Ruzena Bajcsy administration initiative for about six argument. First, it is not clear that Nation’s Information Infrastructure, by University of Pennsylvania years.