Electronic Frontiers Georgia - HB1630

HB1630

One of the early projects of EFGA was to deal with the passage of what was known as Georgia HB1630, the Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act. Don Parsons (politician) of the 40th district, a BellSouth employee, sponsored the bill which was passed and went into effect on July 1, 1996. The Georgia computer law made it a crime to falsely identify yourself on the internet, such as by using a handle or screen name in an "electronic mailbox." There were also significant implications about hyperlinks as the law made criminal provisions concerning the use of trade names, registered trademarks, logos, and copyrighted symbols in hyperlinks. While reported as being effectively "killed" by being tabled, the bill was passed ten days later by both houses.

EFGA's Executive Director Robert Costner went to the Georgia ACLU to see if they were interested in a legal challenge of the law, but the response from Teresa Nelson was "no" stating that it was not a significant issue. After discussions with Rep. Mitchell Kaye, Mr. Costner used his personal funds to engage an attorney, J. Scott McClain of Boundarant, Mixson & Elmore, to frame the case in a way that it would later be of interest to groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The next step would be for EFGA to form a coalition of plaintiffs to oppose the newly passed law.

The lawsuit was not EFGA's first reaction to the new law. In an attempt to avoid the hassle of a lawsuit and avoid costs on both sides, on July 3, 1996 EFGA send a letter to Attorney General Mike Bowers asking him to issue a ruling to clarify the meaning of the law. On July 16, 1996, Bowers turned down EFGA's request and they proceeded forward with filing the lawsuit.

This became EFGA's model for dealing with future issues. Try to deal with the matter at the lowest level before escalating it. Always deal with the issues, not the personalities. and finally form a broad coalition of support by engaging diverse groups in the issue. With the help of attorney J. Scott McClain, the local Georgia ACLU was brought on board. They brought in the national ACLU which took over funding of the lawsuit. EFF joined in next with a total of 13 plaintiffs joining together to submit affidavits for the case.

On September 24, 1996 EFGA, along with the ACLU, EFF, and other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the state alleging that the Georgia law barring the use of pseudonyms and anonymous communications on the internet was unconstitutional. EFGA's position was multifaceted alleging unconstitutionality in protection of anonymous speech, free speech for news and satire in web linking, commerce clause violations, and unconstitutional vagueness in the language of the law.

EFGA ultimately prevailed against the state in federal court winning the preliminary injunction in 1997 effectively overturning the Georgia Law against the use of pseudonyms on the internet.