Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 21:19:45 -0800 (PST) From: "John S. James" Subject: Computer Censorship and AIDS Computer Censorship and AIDS: Letter to San Francisco Examiner, December 31. Permission granted to retransmit this message, or to use the text in your letters to newspapers or otherwise. Editor: The banning of a Star Trek discussion from millions of Americans (San Francisco Examiner, December 30), apparently because a German prosecutor in Munich mistakenly thought it was child pornography, should be a wake-up call. The U.S. Congress could soon do much worse. It is likely to pass the Communications Decency Act, a law so poorly thought out that it will criminalize parents who give safer-sex information to their own children, criminalize children for their private email to each other, and prevent public libraries from computerizing books they have had on their shelves for years. Teachers, officials, and others can be arrested in San Francisco and prosecuted in the most conservative parts of the country, and private groups will have incentives to push for such trials. The proposed law will cripple efforts to reduce the information gap between the rich and poor. A recent report to President Clinton recommended that the U.S. give all schoolchildren access to the Internet. Surely officials will think twice about participating, if the Internet becomes a legal minefield that can strike them at any time. But the greatest problem may be that the law will ban most AIDS prevention information from the Internet, from adults as well as children. The Internet is the future of AIDS prevention, because it is interactive, and publication and distribution costs are negligible. This immensely important communication tool may be ruled off limits before we learn how to use it for public health. Sincerely yours, John S. James Editor and Publisher, AIDS Treatment News