The CFTC's blatant infringement on First Amendment freedoms must end. On July 30, 1997, the Institute for Justice, a non-profit, public interest law firm, filed a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court challenging the CFTC's assault on newsletter publishers, software developers, and those who use the Internet. When successful, the Institute's lawsuit will end government-compelled registration of those who either through traditional publications, software, or over the Internet, offer information, analysis, and impersonal advice about the futures market. Equally important to defending the publishers, the Institute represents consumers of speech--the readers of these publications, and on-line browsers--who wish to continue to receive useful information without government interference. The lawsuit aims to preserve both the right of individuals to communicate truthful information and the ability of willing listeners to receive important information to guide their economic decisionmaking. At its heart, the CFTC's policy is a policy of compelled ignorance. The agency seems to believe that the less information people have about commodities, the better. However, the First Amendment and the tradition of open inquiry in this country are premised on the exact opposite principle. More information, more robust debate, more speech creates a marketplace of ideas where listeners, not government officials, choose which information is valuable and which speakers are worthy of being heard from again. Moreover, as Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens recently wrote, the "Constitution is most skeptical of [laws] that seek to keep people in the dark for what the government believes to be their own good." Through its campaign against newsletters, computer software, and Internet sites, the CFTC stifles this marketplace and keeps consumers in the dark about valuable economic information. The Institute for Justice's lawsuit will hopefully close another sordid chapter in government's continuing campaign against free speech. The CFTC filed a motion to dismiss IJ's suit on technical grounds, claiming that the First Amendment issue was not "ripe" for adjudition. We opposed the motion and a hearing is set for March 12, 1998 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Central to the mission of the Institute for Justice is the reinvigoration of the founding principles of the First Amendment. Through litigation and public outreach we seek to protect the free flow of information indispensable to our republican form of government and to our free enterprise economy. As a non-profit, public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice accepts no government support. Instead, we depend on tax-deductible contributions from individuals and foundations committed to liberty to continue our litigation against intrusive government. How Can I Help?