http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=15079&c=130
Big news today in the free speech community: “The Supreme Court today struck down the Child Online Protection Act as an unconstitutional government attempt to censor free speech on the Internet. ‘Today’s ruling from the Court demonstrates that there are many less restrictive ways to protect children without sacrificing communication intended for adults,’ the ACLU said. ‘By upholding the order stopping Attorney General Ashcroft from enforcing this questionable federal law, the Court has made it safe for artists, sex educators, and web publishers to communicate with adults about sexuality without risking jail time.'”
Recommended professional reading: read the ACLU’s resources on COPA, browse their list of plaintiffs, see the NY Times article, and see what EFF and EPIC have to say about it as well. Finally, browse the actual decision. Intriguing, for those of us who have been saying for nearly a decade that filters aren’t fair, don’t work, and should not be used to prevent adults from accessing the Internet.
Posted on this day, other years:
Internet Censorship Law and Censorware Politics
Censorware Is Our Savior, forever and amen.
Karen, et al.:
It is of interest to note that the justices said the adult verification scheme in COPA was more intrusive than the Court’s recommended solution, which is to use filters. And of course with CIPA they found filters to be OK. What the Court side-stepped, but Justice Stevens references somewhat in his concurring opinion, is the larger obscenity issue. Obscenity is defined based on “local community standards” and the “work taken as a whole.” These are print-based standards. But how are these defined in an Internet-based world? What constitutes the “local community” on the Web?
-Bob
________________________________________
Bob Bocher, Technology Consultant
WI Dept. of Public Instruction, Div. for Libraries and Technology…
Box 7841 Madison, WI 53707
608-266-2127 – fax: 608-266-2529