Thursday, November 19, at Noon (PST), Danni Ashe, founder and star of Danni's Hard Drive (www.danni.com) will lead a galaxy of adult superstars in a ceremonial "Un-Strip" - live on the internet - to protest the recent passing of internet censorship legislation. Billed as the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), the new legislation is a revamped version of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which the U.S. Supreme Court found to be unconstitutional in June of 1997. President Clinton signed the new bill into law last month, and it is set to go into effect this Friday, November 20. The ACLU and 16 co-plaintiffs have already filed a court challenge to the COPA (refer to www.aclu.org/court/acluvrenoII_complaint.html ) \n Thursday's "Unstrip" will feature Danni and 11 of her best girlfriends, all adult stars in their own right, going before live internet cameras. Each woman will begin fully nude, and then, slowly, put her clothes...on. \n Unstripping! When finished, each will hold up a sign proclaiming, "I comply," referring to COPA's provision that no "post-pubescent female breasts" be allowed in an "unprotected" area of the net. The "Unstrip" will be offered as a completely free service. Netizens wishing to view the "Unstrip" can click on www.danni.com, where they will be directed to the appropriate area.
"Not only is the COPA a serious affront to free speech, it provides false comfort to parents, "says Ashe. "The net is a global space as wildly diverse as the world itself and letting your child online unsupervised would be like putting them on a plane to New York City by themselves." \n Continues Danni, "Unstrip For Freedom '98" symbolizes the backwards motion of COPA and the unwinding of hard fought freedoms for sexual expression. Rather than stripping off the repression, inhibition and fears of earlier generations, Congress is telling us to put that baggage back on. \n "Frankly, if the government cared less about grandstanding and more about resolving the issue, they'd convene meetings between companies like mine and browser developers like Netscape & Microsoft in an attempt to build better tools for parents. This is the age of technology and there's no reason why a technological solution can't be reached instead of criminalizing adult freedoms." \n Until then, there's "Un-Strip" For Freedom 98
