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U.S. Supreme Court to Debate COPA
il dus writes "The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which seeks to restrict adult content on the internet, will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. This law has already been declared unconstitutional twice by federal appeals courts because it is, in their opinion, overly broad and restrictive of free speech on the Internet."
What will this do, if anything, to curb spyware on childrens' computers? I remember cleaning kids' machines infested with Bonzi Buddy and crap like that meant to lure children in for marketing purposes.
Any ruling on COPA will likely have no immediate effect on this, since COPA does not attempt to regulate anything other than materials considered "obscene" or "harmful to minors," and specifically only such materials that are on the Internet for "commercial purposes."
so if somebody decided to put up these materials for free that anybody could view without having to pay, it would be legit?
This is one of the key questions in front of the Court. The 3rd Circuit (from which the case was appealed to the Supreme Court) ruled that COPA's definition of "commercial purposes" was overbroad. We will see in the next few months whether or not the Supreme Court agrees.
This is not the first time COPA has come before the Court. Two years ago, the 3rd Circuit ruled that the definition of "community standards," the standards by which the obscenity of questioned material must be judged, is overbroad. The Supreme Court agreed, but stated that this was not enough to overturn COPA by itself. It remanded the case, and now the 3rd Circuit has come up with even more reasons to overturn it.
No, that's COPPA, not COPA.
Not that it really matters, but it's COPPA - Child Online Privacy Protection Act. Unless this is a different act (I know there are a lot of them :P).
It is in fact a different act. The object of COPA is to regulate questionable and offensive materials on the Internet, while the object of COPPA is to regulate the collection of personal information from those under the age of 13 over the Internet.
It is COPA that is being challenged by this case.