Date: Mon, 29 Jan 1996 08:43:29 +0100
From: glaad@glaad.org (GLAAD)
Subject: GLAAD SUPPORTS VETO OF NEW YORK STATE INTERNET REGULATION BILL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:        Loren Javier
                (213) 658-6775
                javier@glaad.org

GLAAD SUPPORTS VETO OF NEW YORK STATE
INTERNET REGULATION BILL

NEW YORK, NY -- January 29, 1996 -- The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) supports the coalition of consumer and civil liberties
activist groups that are calling for the veto by New York Governor Pataki
of Internet regulation Bill S210/A3967.  In an effort to regulate the
Internet for pornography, the Bill would make Internet service providers
liable for their networks for content.  This would include national
commercial Internet service providers, such as Prodigy, Delphi and Netcom,
that are based in New York.

The Bill would create strains on Internet service providers that would
eventually lead them to police their networks.  As the Internet contains so
much information, blocking certain newsgroups and Web sites of certain
"offensive" words has come into practice.  CompuServe recently blocked
newsgroups containing the words offensive words, which included the words
"gay," "lesbian," and "homosexual."

"This is potentially dangerous for the gay and lesbian community," states
Loren Javier, GLAAD's Director of Information Systems, "Responding to the
backlash of proposed regulation of the Internet, Internet service
providers, such as CompuServe, and Internet filtering software, such as
NetNanny, have been blocking important gay and lesbian resource web sites
and newsgroups.  Legislation such as this generates an environment of fear
and misinformation that inevitably affects an individual's freedom of
expression and right to privacy.  Who is to say what is offensive?"

One of the potential solutions that has been brought up is barring all
minors from subscribing to or using Internet service provider.  "This is
even more worrisome," says Javier, "The Internet is often the first contact
that gay and lesbian youth have with the gay and lesbian community.  It is
where they can safely and discretely learn about our community's history
and resources.  To bar our youth from the Internet would only reinforce
dangerous isolation."

GLAAD is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive
representation of individuals and events as a means of challenging
discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.

For more information about Internet censorship and regulation, contact
Voters Telecommunications Watch at vtw@vtw.org or (718) 596-2851, The
Electronic Frontier Foundation at ask@eff.org or (415) 668-7171 or the
Center for Democracy or Technology at (202) 637-9800.

##

******************************************************************************
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
glaad@glaad.org
http://www.glaad.org

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD, is a national
organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of
individuals and events in the media as a means of combatting homophobia and
all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.
****************************************************************************
**