Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I am William W. Burrington, Chairman of the Online Operators Policy Committee of the Interactive Services Association and Assistant General Counsel and Director of Government Affairs for America Online, Inc. in Vienna, Virginia. I appear before you today on behalf of the Interactive Services Association ("ISA") and its Online Operators Policy Committee.
We understand that the purpose of these hearings is to discuss interactive online services, including those that provide access to the Internet, the legal and constitutional framework in which they exist, and the concern for terrorism and other illegal activities on such services.
We also understand that questions are being raised concerning the nature of some conversations that are on the "NET." We want to work with you to maximize the good that this new publishing and communications medium can provide and explain the need to maximize the free flow of information and protect the interests of a free and safe society.
For example, following the tragic circumstances of Oklahoma City and other disasters like the Los Angeles earthquake of 1994, the new online and Internet communities were able to respond immediately in an extremely positive way to establish communications and provide information in an entirely new way to those involved in that disaster. At America Online, for example, within minutes of the Oklahoma City bombing our news department set up a special Oklahoma City news area on our service.Hundreds of thousands of our members entered this special news area on the day of the disaster and in the weeks which followed.The area devoted a section to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Services and allowed our members to make direct contributions to the Red Cross.The area also featured up-to-the-minute news and information, fifteen (15) chat rooms for members to exchange news and views about the tragedy, a message board, and live coverage from NBC's Oklahoma City affiliate.The national outpouring of support for the people of Oklahoma City was not only evident in Oklahoma City itself, but it was freely expressed by literally hundreds of thousands of online users throughout the United States and in other countries as well.
The First Amendment protects speech on an electronic service just as it protects speech disseminated via cable television services and, to a somewhat lesser extent, broadcast media. This means that the government cannot directly or through court action limit speech or require that a certain type of speech be carried by those services. Of course, such protection is not absolute and speech that is obscene or defamatory may be restricted in certain circumstances.Nor does the First Amendment protect speech that moves from expression to action (e.g., Holmes' yelling "fire" falsely in a crowded movie theatre).
What complicates this inquiry is that we cannot stop with a discussion of publishing or dissemination and the First Amendment. A good deal of the services offered by our members are dedicated to the facilitation of communications between individuals. These may be in the form of electronic mail ("e-mail") or bulletin boards run by others or other electronic communications. In these communications services, we are not publishing, we are providing others with the means to communicate and to publish. To the extent that we look at these as communication services, there is also a constitutional protection (Fourth Amendment) for individuals to have a reasonable expectation of privacy in communications.This constitutional protection was significantly expanded to cover digital electronic communications under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.
Therefore, in the best sense of citizenship we have both rights (First Amendment) and responsibilities (duty to protect private communications from unauthorized access) in the provision of online and internet services.