Federal Government

17 November 2006, The federal Ninth Circuit Court vacated the sentence of convicted child pornographer John Kuchinski when it found that his 70-month sentence was based on the number of images found on his computer, including more than 10,000 images found in his temporary Internet files and deleted Internet files. Judge Fernandez explains, to hold otherwise "turns abysmal ignorance into knowledge and a less than valetudinarian [sic, nerdy] grasp into dominion and control."

13 October 2006, President signs H.R. 4954: Security and Accountability For Every Port Act ("SAFE Port Act"), which SAFE Port Act incorporated Title VIII--Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 ("UIGEA"). Title VIII added in conference committee. Earlier, the House passed the SAFE Port Act: ayes-421, nays-2 and not voting-9 and the Senate passed the SAFE Port Act: ayes-98, nays-0 and not voting-2.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) The Senator has been one of leading architects of banning Internet poker. After nine unsuccessful attempts with his "Unlawful Internet Gambling Act" he finally got his bill incorporated in the 2006 Act.

Rep Diana DeGette (D-Colorado) This foe of Internet rights plans on introducing a bill calling for the mandatory data retention of Internet activity in the 110th Congress. In the 109th she voted in favor of H.R. 4411, the early House version of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. She intends to introduce legislation in the 110th Congress mandating Internet service providers keep records of their users activities for a period of up to two years. DeGette has succeeded ex-Rep Leach as the number one enemy of Internet rights in the House.

Pre-election fall 2006, the Mark Foley "House Page Scandal" adds saliva to the legislative palate for passage of a comprehensive Internet data retention act in the 110th Congress.

27 June 2006, five major online companies announced joint initiative with National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to launch an aggressive new campaign against child exploitation on the Internet.

"What kind of social, cultural authoritarianism are we practicing here?....The fundamental principle of the autonomy of the individual is at stake today." Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA and new Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in the floor debate on H.R. 4411

New Congressional Leadership and Internet Rights

iGambling Act: In October 2006, the House passed the SAFE Port Act, which included the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (the "UIGEA") overwhelmingly. This law severely compromises Americans' Internet rights by requiring Internet Service Providers to employ filtering technologies to prevent Americans from accessing thousands of Internet gambling sites.

H.R. 4411: Because this law was materially embedded in the SAFE Port Act, the real attitudes of the new Congressional leadership toward Internet rights can only be analyzed by analyzing the House of Representative's July passage of H.R. 4411. The new congressional leadership's votes on H.R. 4411 were:

Speaker of the House--Nancy Pelosi (CA)--aye

Majority Leader and Majority Whip--Steny H. Hoyer (MD)--nay

Chairman Energy and Commerce Committee--John D. Dingell (MI)--nay

Chairman Financial Services Committee--Barney Frank (MA)--nay

Chairman Judiciary Committee--John Conyers Jr. (MI)--nay

Minority Leader--John A. Boehner (OH)--aye

Minority Whip--Roy Blunt (MO)--aye

Analysis: We are encouraged by the new House democratic leadership. While the top leaders of both parties all voted for H.R. 4411, the incoming House Majority Leader and the Chairmen of the key committees all voted in favor of Internet rights and defied their leadership at the time.

We are very encouraged by Rep. Barney Frank's succeeding to the chairmanship of the Financial Services Committee. Barney Frank was one of the few legislators who spoke in opposition to one of the two bills that eventually were merged to become H.R. 4411. In that debate, he invoked the moral philosophy of John Stuart Mill and the principle of freedom of the Internet. NetRightsAdvocates applauds Rep. Frank's election to this key committee.

We are also very encouraged by the accession of Sen. Harry Reid (NV) as Senate Majority Leader, who regretfully agreed to the inclusion of Title VIII in the SAFE Port Act in the final hours before the 2006 election congressional break. Reid, a former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, has also said that he didn't think that all gambling on the Internet could be effectively regulated.

On 13 October 2006, President signed H.R. 4954: Security and Accountability For Every ("SAFE Port Act") Port Act, which Act incorporated Title VIII--Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 ("UIGEA"). Title VIII added in conference committee. Earlier, the House passed the SAFE Port Act: ayes-421, nays-2 and not voting-9 and the Senate passed the SAFE Port Act: ayes-98, nays-0 and not voting-2. This law severely compromised Americans Internet rights by requiring Internet Service Providers to employ filtering technologies to prevent Americans of accessing thousands of Internet gambling sites.