PANEL PRESENTATION:
PRESENTERS: AMY SCHWARTZMAN, executive director of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts; JUDITH
KRUG, Director of the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom; and STEPHEN
BALKAM, executive director of the Recreational Software Advisory Council
In this animated and spirited panel presentation, the controversial issues of free speech and privacy were
debated specifically in the context of the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Schwartzman opened the presentation with questions to the audience which revealed that it consisted of
mostly arts administrators and artists. She gave an overview of First Amendment rights, noting that
“many people consider that amendment the bedrock of our society.” Schwartzman further noted that
obscenity is not regulated by law but rather by a contemporary community standard.
Krug described the Supreme Court ruling which unanimously declared the Communications Decency Act
(CDA) of 1996 unconstitutional. “While the Internet deserves the same constitutional protection as print,”
she said, “the Court said that in the future the Internet may deserve an even greater level of protection.
Broadcast has much less protection. The Internet is the communications medium of the twenty-first
century. Does this mean print is dead? Absolutely not.” She went on to describe her role as a librarian in
the digital age. “I bring people and information together. It is the most exciting thing that has happened to
communications since the invention of the printing press.” Citing a recurring conference, Krug reminded
attendees that those who do not have access to the Internet can now access it through their local public
library.
Fighting bills she believes are unconstitutional, both at the state and federal level, occupy much of Krug’s
time, and she noted that there are currently some fifteen bills at the state level trying to accomplish the
same goal as the Communications Decency Act, restricting access to Internet material. “The standard,”
she said, “is whether or not the material is harmful to minors. The legislators are trying to tie the Internet
filter to funding of schools and libraries.”
Creating Internet filters is Balkam’s job, and he presented the Recreational Software Advisory Council’s
rating system. The goal of the system, he said is to “protect children and protect free speech.” RSAC
(www.rsac.org) is an independent, non-profit organization established in 1994. The rating system that
they have devised is completely self-regulatory - the Internet sites themselves volunteer to be a part of the
system under no obligation from any private or public institution. The rating system has four categories to
help parents and guardians decide what is appropriate for their children to view. The categories are
nudity, sexual content, language, and violence, and each category is divided into five levels of intensity.
Parents can set the controls on their individual computers to block out Web sites that exceed their desired
ratings. RSAC was described by Balkam as a free, non-judgmental service: “We’re like the nutrition label
for the soup – it tells you how much fat is in the soup, but it doesn’t tell you whether you should eat it or
not.” Balkam also pointed out that self-regulatory schemes like his have halted the rush for government
legislation.
One attendee asked Mr. Balkam how he felt about the use of filters in the public libraries. He replied,
“Libraries already make decisions based on community standards. I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of
possibility to solve this problem – it is not in black and white.” This provoked an animated response from
Krug: “We are bringing in the Internet and leaving it up to you to choose what you want to see,” she said.
“We are no longer bound by walls or memory. Filters violate our basic standards when they block
constitutionally protected material. They are wonderful devices to be used in the home. They are not
appropriate in a public institution.”
Schwartzman added: “Although obscenity is determined by local standards, the Internet crosses state lines
and hence affects interstate commerce. Therefore, no state (or local government) has the right to regulate
the content of the Internet.”
ISSUES OF FREE SPEECH AND PRIVACY
Saturday, March 28, 1998, 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.
By: Philip Rothman