Comrades, I am forwarding this (hoping) that many of you, some of you, a
few of you, someone would find it of interest. If it is not your "cup of
tea" please SHIFT D now. I do not remember seeing it on law-lib before,
sorry if it is a duplicate of an earlier posting. I believe the "James
Love" the same "Jamie Love" that we often find hereon, if so please keep
up the good work. Have a great 4th.! Yours in Law Librarianship, Al
Podboy, Cleveland, Ohio. (The Bicentennial City)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 16:34:48 -0700
From: Bill Moore <billkatt@NETCOM.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list AMEND1-L <AMEND1-L@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU>
Subject: [Fwd: USIA Web Site] (fwd)
An interesting case of the federal government censoring itself... BtC
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: USIA Web Site
Researchers Seek U.S. Government Texts That Americans May Not See
For more than a year, James P. Love has been trying to find on-line versions
of
hundreds of U.S. government documents that have already been released
overseas.
Knowing that many of the documents are on line, he searches the Internet
relentlessly, hoping to come across them on World-Wide
Web and Gopher pages set up by the United States Information Agency. The
agency, which produces "Voice of America" broadcasts
and runs educational and cultural exchanges, among other programs, exists
to increase understanding of the United States among
foreign audiences.
You would think that simply asking the agency for the Internet address of its
Web site would make Mr. Love's task a bit easier. But
when he -- and anyone else in the United States -- asks U.S.I.A. officials for
the address of the agency's overseas Web site, they balk and
give a rote answer: "We are forbidden by law from releasing that
information."
A 1948 law -- enacted during the Cold War to insulate Americans from the
propaganda of their own government -- forbids the agency
to disseminate its news reports within the United States, the U.S.I.A. says.
Agency officials direct people to only their U.S.-based site --
a separate group of Web pages. The U.S. site offers information about
Fulbright fellowships and international-exchange programs, but
it does not provide links to any of the U.S.I.A.'s news reports or radio
transcripts.
"Whatever the legislative mandate is, we enforce it, to the letter of the law,"
says William B. Reinckens, a spokesman for the agency.
For Mr. Love, that explanation doesn't cut it. As the head of a
public-advocacy group called the Taxpayer Assets Project, he filed a
lawsuit in May against the agency in an effort to bring some sense to what
he considers a "ludicrous" and "archaic" policy. He wants the
agency to disclose the Web address of its international site to anyone who
asks. And he'd like the agency to open a Web site containing
its archives, which do not yet appear to be on the Internet, for the use of
researchers around the world -- American and otherwise.
"This is taxpayer-funded information," argues his lawyer, Colette G. Matzzie,
who works for Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy group.
Ms. Matzzie contends that the 1948 law conflicts with the Freedom of
Information Act, which assures public access to U.S. government
documents while protecting national security and respecting the privacy of
individuals.
"Congress may have intended the [1948] law to prevent the agency from
brainwashing American citizens with government-produced
news reports, but at some point, it crosses over the line and limits the
people's ability to do research and to engage in discourse," she
says.
Mr. Love is eager to gain access to the U.S.I.A.'s overseas documents --
including transcripts of "Voice of America" radio shows --
primarily because of the wealth of information the agency releases to people
outside the United States.
"Few Americans are aware that as taxpayers they are spending $1.4 billion
per year to produce news, public affairs and entertainment
programming for radio, television and print publications that the government
cannot disseminate to its own citizens," Mr. Love wrote in
an e-mail post to several mailing lists last year. (In the 1996 fiscal year, the
agency's budget is $1.1-billion.) For researchers seeking the
government's point of view on historical events, he adds, the records are
invaluable.
Some industrious Web-searchers have found the U.S.I.A.'s news reports
themselves. A substantial amount of the agency's overseas
news is available at a site labeled "International," but Mr. Love says even
that site does not provide every text the agency has
produced. Agency officials decline to comment about the site.
U.S.I.A. employees, of course, do not hesitate to agree that they produce
reams of useful information on a daily basis. In fact, while
none of them will publicly comment on the restrictive nature of the 1948 law,
some may welcome the lawsuit, Ms. Matzzie says. "I think
the agency has wanted to make this information available. All they claim is
that the statute forbids them from doing it," she says.
Because the law, a provision of the Smith-Mundt Act, was enacted decades
before the creation of the Internet, its language cannot be
interpreted to cover Web sites, Ms. Matzzie argues. But the agency is
interpreting the law -- which states that the U.S.I.A.'s overseas
information "shall not be disseminated" in the United States -- as if the
Internet were among the media that "disseminate" information,
she says.
"What is dissemination?" Ms. Matzzie asks. Her answer, and the crux of her
argument, borrows from the federal judges' ruling on the
Communications Decency Act in June. In that decision, a three-judge panel
ruled that the act, intended to curb "indecent" or "patently
offensive" material on line, was unconstitutional on First Amendment
grounds. The Justice Department has said it would appeal the
judges' ruling.
"The Internet does not disseminate information," Ms. Matzzie says. "The
Internet puts the burden on the individual to access it." She
says the language of the C.D.A. ruling -- that "communications over the
Internet do not 'invade' an individual's home or appear on one's
computer screen unbidden" -- will provide a precedent that supports her
argument.
Meanwhile, Mr. Love continues to search the Internet for U.S.I.A. news and
transcripts. "God knows what's out there. There's a lot more
being done than we've found so far in our searches," he says.
--Lisa Guernsey
For more information on the U.S.I.A.'s Web sites, see an earlier report.
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