Two weeks ago Congress passed a sweeping new telecommunications bill, the biggest overhaul of ...

Two weeks ago Congress passed a sweeping new telecommunications bill, the biggest overhaul of telecommunications law in 62 years. The bill contains a provision (the Communications Decency Act) which makes obscenity on the internet illegal, punishable by fines of up to $100,000 and prison sentences to "knowingly" transmit to minors material deemed "indecent" on on-line services. Indecency is defined as any communication that "in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs." Terry Gross will be talking to several individuals with differing points of view:BRUCE TAYLOR, President and Chief Counsel of the National Law Center for Children and Families. His organization is a resource and education center which assists law enforcement and prosecutors in the enforcement of obscenity and child exploitation laws. He helped draft the legislation in the Communications Decency Act. (The National Law Center Children and Families is located in Fairfax, VA, (703) 691-4626.