[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 97 (Thursday, June 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                        THE RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH

  (Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I voted against the 
Communications Decency Act, which was included in the 
telecommunications bill, because it was an outrageous disregard by this 
body of our duty to protect constitutional rights, specifically the 
first amendment.
  Now we have had a ringing thoughtful denunciation of that 
unconstitutional act by a 3-judge court in Pennsylvania. I commend 
particularly to Members the opinion by Judge Dalzell, where he points 
out how unwise it is to try to sensor the Internet.
  We have a problem. We began years ago, with regard to broadcasting, 
the notion that if speech was electronically communicated it got less 
first amendment protection than other speech. That was based on some 
technological factors involving the limitations of the spectrum.
  Today, as increasingly people communicate with each other through 
electronic means, we have carried over this notion that electronically 
communicated speech gets less first amendment protection than other 
speech.
  If we do not reverse that trend, if we do not recognize the wisdom of 
that 3-judge court, we will find ourselves in future years less 
protected by that precious right of free speech.

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