Street Knowledge

Censorship- February 18, 1996

This particular show focused on the recently passed telecommunications bill. The general question was..should we have access to pornography on the internet. The second part of the show focused on the censorship efforts within the music industry. Special guest in the house was none other then former X-Clan member Brother J. He represented nicely and even had a heated excahnge with The Christian Coalition's Regional Director Stephan Brown.

The guests were:
Dorothy Irlick (ACLU)
- She said that if the ACLU needs to communicate information about scientific abortion, erotic art, safe sex for lesbian and gay couples, etc., they would be criminally liable under theTelecommunications Bill that Sen. Dan Coates is trying to introduce.Irlick said that there are other ways to regulate what's available, i.e. tools that have been developed for the computer that allow parents and educators to control what's coming on to the computer. She said that the Internet is a revolutionary new way to communicate and people should be allowed to do it with the most amount of expression.

Dave Crane(legislative assistant to Sen. Dan Coates)
He said that the Telecommunications Bill would cover communication with indecent speech, and posting pornographic material and text - it would have to be done in areas of the Internet not accessible to minors, and access numbers and pin codes would have to be used. Coates said that relevant information taken in context would not fall under this law. He said, "If you extend the same logic - that the innocent should protect themselves from the guilty - you're saying that the solution to murder would be everyone innocent wear a bulletproof vest."

Brother J (X-Clan, Dark Sunriders)
He said that it matters what children are taught at home; if things haven't been checked from the beginning by the parents, it's already too late. He said that as an artist, he can only assist in the thinking pattern and spark a thought. Billy Jam(Pirate radio) He said that when there's regulation, it's hard to know where it's going to end. Billy said it was more important to go after bigger issues like crack/cocaine first; there's too much hipocracy where things like this are concerned.

Stephan Brown(Christian Coalition)
He said this this area was heretofore unchallenged, and it's appropriate bcause it sets some boundaries and protects kids. Alfredo Hakabu(Internet user) He said that most people are on the Internet for completely different reasons. Hakuba said that theoretically, the government is the poeple, but it obviously doesn't end up working that way.