Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 12:22:21 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <199910291622.MAA09799@mattababy.mit.edu>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: senator@kennedy.senate.gov
Subject: S.254 / H.R. 1501 conference

Dear Senator Kennedy

This past 16 June I wrote to you to express my opposition to a number of
provisions in the Juvenile Justice Bill.  That bill has since been passed in
the Senate as S. 254 and in the House as H.R. 1501.  I see that you voted for
the bill despite its many shortcomings in areas of privacy, individual
liberties, and age discrimination.

You're a member of the conference committee that will be unifying the two
versions of the bill.  Although it is now all but certain that the elements of
the bill that are common to both the House and Senate versions will become law,
I would like to ask you once again to oppose the Franks/Pickering mandatory
filtering language.  The Franks/Pickering language was passed in the House
version but was not included by the Senate.

Local schools and libraries are better able than the federal government to
decide the best way to keep children safe and to help them have positive,
developmentally appropriate experiences online. Filtering technology is one
option, but not the only choice available. The federal government should not
lock schools and libraries into a single technology choice that may become
obsolete in just a few years.