[From 1996]: Web Users Dress Pages in Black As A Protest of Communications Act

More than a thousand World Wide Web pages donned mourning colors Feb 8 to protest provisions of a new telecommunications law. Web site owners put black background on their home pages to signify grief over the telecommunications reform bill that President Clinton signed. They believe it will diminish their First Amendment right to free speech. In addition to coloring their pages black, most web site owners included an explanation of the protest.

The World Wide Web is the graphical part of the Internet, with text as well as sound and pictures. The focal point of the protest is language in the telecommunications bill that allows fines of $250,000 and jail sentences of two years for any one who makes "indecent" material available to minors in a public forum online. The bill marks the first time Congress has dealt specifically with content on the Internet. Organizers of the protest say existing laws already prohibit use of the Internet to transmit sexually explicit material and that broadcast-style restrictions are inappropriate for the interactive medium. They also say tools are available that allow individuals to screen Internet content, which leaves such decisions in the hands of individuals rather than the federal government. The Coalition to Stop Net Censorship includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Council for the Arts, the Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression, the Well, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Libertarian Party, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Writers Union, People for the American Way, Web Review Magazine and Wired Magazine.

[This post is from Feb 9, 1996]