From: Phil Osborn (philosborn2001@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jun 22 2002 - 01:13:54 MDT
http://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-02-07-cybercafe.htm
http://detnews.com/2002/technology/0203/01/technews28-424471.htm
June 19th's Orange County Register carried the story -
one of several similar ones in recent months - of
blatant local censorship by various municipalities.
The excuse by the authorities is that the cybercafes
have become targets for youth-gang violence, with two
recent shootings cited. The gang members involved in
the shootings, however, were apparently not users of
the cybercafes, but rather simply attracted by the
presence of large numbers of youths.
Rather than deal with the real issue, the violent
youth gangs, authorities have chosen to begin shutting
down, restricting access and limiting hours for the
cybercafes in most of Orange County, or, in some cases
instituting moratoriums on new cybercafes.
Ironically, these actions come at the same time as
major news stories about the mainland Chinese efforts
to shut down internet cafes to prevent "subversive"
activities, such as reading uncensored news.
While the majority of users of these facilities are
gamers, there are also a sizeable number of people -
such as myself right now - who use these for other
purposes, such as political activism, as in what I'm
doing right now, thus bringing them under 1st
Amendment protections.
See
<http://www.libertarianrock.com/topics/curfew/curfewindex.html>
for detailed information regarding the Federal court's
upholding of 1st Amendment rights over local
ordinances, such as youth curfews. E.g., by wearing a
T-shirt which has a protest message - such as "Smash
the Curfew" - one is legally exempt from any curfew,
whose imposition would require denying the wearer's
right to peacefully assemble and protest.
Later today, Saturday, June 22nd, 2001, the owners of
ICE Cybercafe have invited parents to visit the
establishment at 12125 Brookhurst St., Garden Grove,
CA, from 9AM to 2PM. I plan to be there as well, and
will try to alert the local ACLU, Libertarian Party,
Green Party, Ayn Rand Institute, KPFK's Digital
Village program and anyone else I can think of who
might be particularly concerned about this riding
roughshod over the most basic of civil rights. Come
if you can.
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