BILL CRIMINALIZES DRUG LINKS

Opponents of a bill to restrict drug-related information online are asking
members of the House Judiciary Committee to reject it at a scheduled vote
Tuesday morning.

The panel is set to consider the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act,
which makes it a federal crime to publish or link to information related to
illegal drugs or drug advertising.

"You have all sorts of First Amendment problems with that," said Marv
Johnson, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Civil libertarians said the measure should be rewritten to remove
restrictions on Web publishing and eliminate a controversial section that
would allow police to conduct secret searches and seizures.

Johnson has lobbied both Democratic and Republican members of the Judiciary
Committee, arguing that the bill is so vague it could put even mainstream
publishers at risk.

"Nobody knows what part is going to get you in trouble," he says. "If you
teach someone how to use a Bunsen burner, is this sufficient to get you
indicted? Nobody really knows."

The American Booksellers Association also has cautioned Congress about
approving the restrictions.

One portion of the bill would make it a crime "to teach or demonstrate the
manufacture of a controlled substance." Another section would allow police
to surreptitiously enter someone's house with a warrant without telling
them about it -- a notification that currently is required by law.

Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), a member of the committee, may
introduce an amendment to the anti-methamphetamine bill to remove some of
the more controversial sections.

"There's a possibility we will, but we haven't made any internal
decisions," an aide to Baldwin said.

Proponents of the methamphetamine bill -- the Senate has already
unanimously approved a similar measure -- said it's necessary to shut meth
labs and combat the illegal drug market.

"Meth ensnares our children, endangers us all, and causes users to commit
other crimes," Senator John Ashcroft (R-Missouri) said when introducing the
Senate bill last year. "In 1998, the percentage of 12th graders who used
meth was double the 1992 level. Meth-related emergency room incidents are
up 63 percent over that same period."

Since the House version, sponsored by Representative Chris Cannon and 19
other members of Congress, is different from the Senate bill, a conference
committee would be necessary to reconcile the two pieces of legislation.

To avoid that possibility, some House Judiciary Committee members are
considering replacing Cannon's bill with the Senate legislation.

But the Senate bill is even more far-reaching. It says Internet providers
and hosting services must remove any website within 48 hours after the
government objects to it -- and no court order is necessary.

"If an interactive computer service receives a notice ... that a particular
online site residing on a computer server controlled or operated by the
provider is being used to violate this section, the provider shall within
48 hours, not including weekends and holidays, remove or disable access to
the matter residing at that online site that allegedly violates this
section," the bill says.

If the House Judiciary Committee does not vote on the meth bill on Tuesday
at its 10 a.m. hearing, which will be cybercast, the vote is scheduled to
take place Wednesday.