IP: -- Telecom bill outlaws Supreme Court decisions

[Dave Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

Date: 2 Feb 1996 08:56:57 -0800
From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)


At long last, the full text of the Supreme Court's _FCC v.  Pacifica_
decision is online. This is the decision that constitutionally defines
'indecency'.


The decision itself contains many references to the words that made
the material in question indecent. It also contains a full transcript of
the indecent material.


Under the terms of the Telecom bill, soon to be law, making this
Supreme Court decision generally available is a crime punishable by 2
years in prison and a $25,000 fine.


You might think that because this decision is talking about indecency,
it is exempt from indecency rules. If you read the decision you will
find that there is no such exemption. The material that the Supreme
Court found to be indecent was a radio program about indecency rules.


Welcome to the InfoFuture, where even case law must be kept under lock
and key.


[The decision is available from the EFF's Legal archive.


  http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/FCC_v_Pacifica/fcc_v_pacifica.decision
  ftp.eff.org, /pub/Legal/Cases/FCC_v_Pacifica/fcc_v_pacifica.decision
  ]


- - Carl
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF or my employer; this is just me.
 =Email: kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
 =URL: <http://www.eff.org/CAF/, <ftp://ftp.cs.uiuc.edu/pub/kadie/ =