WHITE HOUSE CLARIFIES VP GORE'S INTENT

[Howard Pasternack]

What is "appropriate" or "inappropriate" in an age when the details of the
President's sex life are the lead articles in the evening news.


> 
> Bernie Sloan
> Senior Library Information Systems Consultant
> University of Illinois Office for Planning & Budgeting
> 338 Henry Administration Building
> 506 S. Wright Street
> Urbana, IL  61801
> Phone: (217) 333-4895
> Fax: (217) 333-6355
> Email: bernies at uillinois.edu
> 
> > =================================================================
> > ALAWON                                        Volume 7, Number 31
> > ISSN 1069-7799                                     March 25, 1998
> >
> >      American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
> >
> > In this issue: (124 lines)
> >
> > VICE PRESIDENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON CHILDREN AND THE INTERNET;
> > WHITE HOUSE CLARIFIES INTENT
> > _________________________________________________________________
> >
> >  VICE PRESIDENT ISSUES STATEMENT ON CHILDREN AND THE INTERNET;
> >                   WHITE HOUSE CLARIFIES INTENT
> >
> > On March 23 Vice President Al Gore issued a statement on
> > protecting children from inappropriate material on the Internet.
> > Although the statement is ambiguous and could be interpreted as
> > indicating support for either Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) filtering
> > proposal or Sen. Conrad Burns's (R-MT) local Internet use policy
> > alternative, ALA's inquiries to the White House have indicated
> > that Vice President Gore intended his statement to be supportive
> > of local-level decision making.
> >
> > The Vice President's statement, appended in full below, is being
> > interpreted by some technology press as supportive of Sen.
> > McCain's bill, S. 1619, the Internet School Filtering Act, which
> > would require libraries and schools that receive federal funds
> > for Internet access to install software to block material
> > inappropriate for children.  The bill was approved by the Senate
> > Commerce Committee on March 12 but with a public agreement among
> > the senators that, if two proposed amendments were withdrawn,
> > there would be the opportunity to work out "compromise" language
> > before the bill went to the full Senate.
> >
> > One key White House staffer, Tom Kalil of the National Economic
> > Council, has posted the following to several listservs: "Vice
> > President Gore's statement is being misinterpreted in the press
> > as calling for mandatory filtering.  Actually, he's calling for
> > schools and libraries to develop acceptable use policies."
> >
> > A CNet article on March 23, "Gore on fence about Net filtering,"
> > (see http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,20361,00.html) quotes a
> > White House spokeswoman who said, "The legislation
> > [Clinton and Gore] would support would not require blocking, it
> > would just require that schools and libraries put a plan in place
> > regarding their students and patrons accessing inappropriate
> > material."
> >
> > The article goes on to say:
> >
> >      If a community decides it wants to allow open access to all
> >      online material, "inappropriate" content included: "If their
> >      local values dictate that--then it is up to the school and
> >      community," Gore's spokeswoman added.
> >
> > The Vice President's statement (in full below) is also available
> > online at http://library.whitehouse.gov/Week.cgi (look under the
> > March 23 postings).
> >
> > [BEGIN GORE STATEMENT]
> >
> > March 23, 1998
> >
> > STATEMENT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT ON PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN
> > FROM INAPPROPRIATE MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET
> >
> > Message Creation Date was at 23-MAR-1998 12:42:00
> >
> > THE WHITE HOUSE
> >
> > Office of the Vice President
> > ___________________________________________________________
> > For Immediate Release:     Contact:
> > Monday, March 23, 1998     (202) 456-7035
> >
> >
> > STATEMENT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT ON PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN FROM
> > INAPPROPRIATE MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET
> >
> >  As we connect every school and classroom to the Internet, we
> > must protect our children from the red-light districts of
> > cyberspace.
> >
> >  That is why the President and I are encouraging Congress to pass
> > legislation that would require every school and library using the
> > e-rate to develop a plan to protect their schoolchildren from
> > inappropriate content.  The e-rate is a new federal program that
> > provides as much as $2.25 billion a year to connect schools and
> > libraries to the Internet.
> >
> >  This legislation is not a "one-size-fits-all-approach" that
> > mandates government values in our schools.   Instead, our plan
> > will empower schools to make decisions based on local
> > values--protecting children from inappropriate
> > material while also protecting the first amendment values we all
> > hold dear.
> >
> >  We must bring the combined power of parents, teachers, and
> > technology together if we are going to protect our students in a
> > way that will work in every community and reflect the values of
> > each community.
> >
> >  I call on Congress to pass this legislation which protects our
> > children from inappropriate material on the Internet and will do
> > more than ever before to make cyberspace a safe space for our
> > children.
> >
> > [END GORE STATEMENT]
> > _________________________________________________________________
> >
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> >
> > Contributors:                                  Carol C. Henderson
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