COPA Back in the News

Link to July 22 Wired Blog Network post, "Net Censorship Law Struck Down Again".

Excerpt:
A federal appeals court struck down as unconstitutional a Clinton-era law that would have forced websites with adult material to verify visitors' ages, dealing another blow to the government in a 10-year court battle over net censorship.

The 3rd U.S. Circurt Court of Appeals upheld on Tuesday a 2007 lower-court decision that the Child Online Protection Act violated the First Amendment since it was not the most effective way to keep children from visiting adult websites.

Both courts also found that the standards for material that had to be hidden from open browsing were so loosely defined that any content not suitable for a four-year-old would have been hidden behind a age-verification firewall.

"Unlike COPA, filters permit adults to determine if and when they want to use them and do not subject speakers to criminal or civil penalties," the court wrote.

Don't expect this bout to end any time soon, as the government plans to appeal the decision.

Read Digital Daily commentary, "What We Really Need is DOPA -- the DOJ Online Protection Act.