See also the Blacked-Out Web Page Campaign.

[UW CS&E mirror document]

The Blue Ribbon Campaign

for Online Freedom of Speech, Press and Association



Blue Ribbon Intro Blue Ribbon Graphics
Fed. US Update US States Update Global Update
Other Blue Ribbon Pages Archive Sites That Could be Banned


Blue Ribbon Campaign Introduction

A blue ribbon is chosen as the symbol for the preservation of basic civil rights in the electronic world. The blue ribbon is of course insprired by the yellow POW/MIA and red AIDS/HIV ribbons, and also by the (U.S.) Second Amendment & public land usage rights blue ribbons, the breast cancer pink ribbon, etc.*

EFF and other civil liberties groups ask that a blue ribbon be worn or displayed to show support for the essential human right of free speech. This fundamental building block of free society, affirmed by the U.S. Bill of Rights in 1791, and by the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, has been sacrificed in the 1996 Telecom Bill.

The blue ribbon will be a way to raise awareness of these issues, from locally to globally, and for the quiet voice of reason to be heard.

The voice of reason knows that free speech doesn't equate to sexual harassment, abuse of children, or the breeding of hatred or intolerance.

We insist that any material that's legal in bookstores, newspapers, or public libraries must be legal online.

See below for info on how to get Blue Ribbon graphics for your WWW pages.


USA (Federal) Status Update
The Communications Decency Act has passed Congress, and is expected to be signed into law by the President on Thu., Feb. 8, 1996. The CDA was initially introduced by Sen. James Exon, then worsened by Senators Coats, Grassley and Hyde, as well as fundmentalist lobbyists including the Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council. The CDA was appended onto the Telecom "Reform" bill and passed as an amendment to it, Feb. 1 1996 by an overwhelming majority of both Houses of the legislature, less than 24 hours after it was reported out of committee. Many legislators did not even know that the CDA was part of the Telecom Bill when they passed it. President Clinton has called the telcom bill "legislation that America needs", and has promised (threatened?) to sign it.
As of Feb. 6: Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-CO) has announced that she will introduce a new measure to repeal the unconstitutional ban on certain abortion-related speech lingering in the 123-year-old Comstock Act. NOTE: This new proposal, to be introduced Feb. 26, does not affect the Communications Decency Act portion of the Telecom Bill (the "indecency" restrictions), only the Comstock/abortion-related portion.
A Free Speech Rally is scheduled for Feb. 10 in Washington DC.
EFF, ACLU and many other organizations will be mounting a legal challenge to the CDA if and when Clinton signs it into law. We are prepared to file this federal lawsuit by Feb. 9 at the latest. More details soon.
Besides the Blue Ribbon campaign, many people will turn their web pages to a black background for 48 hours after Clinton signs the CDA into law, as a protest action representing funeral colors for the death of the Internet.

US States Status Update

Global & Non-US Status Update
No coherent info avaiable right this moment. Please send updates to mech@eff.org. Interested in info on US state, and foreign national censorship legislation/regulation/enforcement.


Blue Ribbon Graphics

All Web users are strongly encouraged to place a blue ribbon graphic on their servers, such as the ones below. (Click on each to download if your browser requires this.)

[Big version - click here to download] [Small version - click here to download]

If you would like to point your Blue Ribbon icon at EFF's Blue Ribbon page (the page you are reading now), you can add this HTML Anchor to your homepage

Many other versions are available, including borderless, transparent, grey and black backrounds, smaller versions, an outline version, and a textless version for incorporation into larger banners (as a standalone icon, please use the versions with text, so people have some idea that there IS a blue ribbon campaign and what is about when they first encounter it - not everyone has a color monitor, so the verbal name of the campaign is important to pass around.) Thank you for your support and activism, and remember - it's YOUR rights you are fighting for! Wear a real blue ribbon, so people ask you what it's all about.

If you are not sure why you need to participate in the Blue Ribbon Campaign and stand up for your free speech, or uncertain how your rights are threatened, please see our Internet Censorship Legislation Alerts Page


Other Blue Ribbon Pages

 Here are some other sites providing Blue Ribbon pages. You might wish to refer people to one of these sites as well as or in place of ours. This will help reduce load on our system, and help spread the word into other online communities (e.g. via having someone within each community provide a blue ribbon page, rather than everyone having to figure out who we are and how we relate to their interests) This is *not* a list of people supporting the blue ribbon campaign and putting blue ribbons on their WWW pages - there are already thousands!

NOTE: For the time being, we're also listing WWW Blackout pages here (see above - for 48 hours after Clinton signs the CDA into law, which is threatened for Thu. Feb 8, turn your Web pages black in mourning for the Internet.) As with the ribbon effort, we're just listing resources for more info on the campaign, not every supporter of it.



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