Mntsnow
03-07-2003, 6:45 AM
WASHINGTON--A federal law aimed at curbing Internet pornography violates Americans' free speech rights and is unconstitutional, an appeals court ruled Thursday.
For the second time, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia struck down a law that would imprison commercial Web site operators who do not cordon off sexually explicit material from minors. The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) "is not narrowly tailored to proscribe commercial pornographers and their ilk, as the government contends, but instead prohibits a wide range of protected expression," the court said.
"The analysis is the one we were making from the very beginning, which is that the law makes it a crime to communicate speech that is clearly protected (by the First Amendment) to adults," said Ann Beeson, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union who litigated the case. "The only way someone can avoid prosecution is to set up burdensome screening systems. The impact is so great it violates the First Amendment."
Read more on this important story (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-991477.html)
For the second time, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia struck down a law that would imprison commercial Web site operators who do not cordon off sexually explicit material from minors. The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) "is not narrowly tailored to proscribe commercial pornographers and their ilk, as the government contends, but instead prohibits a wide range of protected expression," the court said.
"The analysis is the one we were making from the very beginning, which is that the law makes it a crime to communicate speech that is clearly protected (by the First Amendment) to adults," said Ann Beeson, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union who litigated the case. "The only way someone can avoid prosecution is to set up burdensome screening systems. The impact is so great it violates the First Amendment."
Read more on this important story (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-991477.html)