ACLU & EPIC Will Challenge CIPA

Sarcasmo writes: "Apparently, the ACLU and EPIC plan to file suit in order to challenge the legality of the Children's Online Protection Act." While the link in there leads to a privacy.org, here's a direct link to the article. Either one will tell you that the groups will "attempt to have the new law struck down on First Amendment and due-process grounds." Best of luck to them.

Comments

OK, Let's Review

[Jim Tyre]

So, we've sorted out by now that it is CIPA, not COPA, though I don't think anyone has pointed out that it is ACLU and the American Library Association, not EPIC.

If anyone wants an actual, real link to CIPA to see what it says, here.

Re:Filtering on library computers...

[Trepalium]

The problem being is there's two forms of filtering software. The stupid kind that uses lists of banned websites that you can't access, which just happen to end up populated with sites that criticise the company or it's products. Users of such software will never be able to research the failure rates of filtering software, or even access groups that are opposed or write articles that are opposed to them. See The Register's saga with Cyber Patrol blocking them. The only reason was because they had a story run about peacefire.exe that killed filtering software. So, CyberPatrol added them to the sex, drugs, and "gross depictions" categories.

Then there's the stupider kind that filters out key words. You'll never do research on cucumbers (embeded bad word, c-u-m), names like Dick Sexton would trigger the filter, and the list goes on. And heaven forbid you should want to know anything about Matsushita or Essex. My favorite, however, is from one of the people at peacefire:

Peacefire's Bennett Haselton takes the prize for his fun with Cybersitter. Bennett started with this phrase: "Gary Bauer is a staunch anti-homosexual conservative who sees the gay movement as absolutely pure fascism and thinks movies of men with men are the greatest terror."

After Cybersitter's keen filters attacked it, here's what came out: "Gary Bauer is a staunch anti-conservative who sees the gay movement as absolutely pure and thinks movies of men with men are the greatest."

http://dfn.org/focus/censor/contest.htm has a nice list of humourous censorware failures.