Child Online Protection Act Appeal Rejected

TarrVetus writes "The Associated Press reports that a federal appeals court in Philadelphia has ruled that the Child Online Protection Act will not be revived, upholding a 2007 decision that the unimplemented 1998 law is unconstitutional. The law, which made it a crime for websites to allow children access to 'harmful' material, was declared a violation of the First Amendment because of existing elective filtering technologies and parental controls that are less restrictive to free speech than the 'ineffective' and 'overly broad' ban."

Comments

11 years later and still squirming/

[guruevi]

This law is 11 years old and it's still squirming through the courts. For all those that say that free speech is protected by the constitution and that certain branches will do away with unconstitutional laws: here is an example of how long you can potentially have laws affecting you while you're fighting it in court.

Of course this law is unimplemented but several other laws like DMCA and Patriot Act ARE implemented and unconstitutional. It takes longer than a 2 term presidency to do away with a dead law, how long do you think it would take to repeal a law that has been in use?

Re:11 years later and still squirming/

[betterunixthanunix]

Yes, these things take a while to sort themselves out. There is simply no other way to protect the rights of the citizens while maintaining a meaningful and functional government. Subtle violations of your rights take longer, because there is more disagreement over whether or not your rights were violated at all -- you might think that the DMCA is a violation of your rights, but there are plenty of people out there who feel that it is not and that in fact, the DMCA protects the rights of the citizens (copyrights precede free speech in the constitution), including you.

Seriously, why do people think the system is deficient just because problems are not solved instantly?

Re:Adult entertainment?

[corsec67]

The trick lies in blocking adult entertainment from children...

Why?

If it is covered by free speech, I don't see how you can say "you must be *this* old to use free speech". Is porn harmful to people under 18? Even if they are legally allowed to have sex?

Why not violent material?

This is where parental supervision comes into play, and often where the kick falls short.

Absolutely, that is where this kind of oversight belongs.

Think Of The Children!

[Kenyai]

I'm glad this happened.

Allow me to be blatantly honest. I think kids should have the right to explore their sexuality in a safe manner online. I know I did.

Why is "adult entertainment" so exclusive anyway? You know, they could have extremely tame erotic websites to cater to kids who are interested. Probably like softcore Playboy pics or something.

Re:Think Of The Children!

[mcgrew]

In the "real" world, "tame erotic websites" will have the same connotation as marijuana being a "gateway drug": (a) that it's addictive and harmful (b) it leads to "harder" stuff (in both weed and porn contexts) and (c) it will ruin the children, even though adults enjoy it responsibly everyday.

A: Marijuana is not addictive, but could be harmful to some (e.g., children and some mental patients).

B: marijuana doesn't lead to "harder" drugs (harder, deadly drugs like alcohol and tobacco?), but the laws against it certainly do. The same people who sell pot sell other drugs, and when Reagan waged his war in marijuana, the pot supply dried up and there was a flood of cocaine.

"Got any pot, man?"

"No, it's dry. Want some coke?"

I know guys who loved their marijuana until their employer started drug testing. Lied to about pot (which stays in your system for a month) they figured they were lied to about crack (which stays from three days to a week) as well, and subsitutued crack for pot, since they were less likely to get caught.

None of them are now employed by anybody, cocaine addiction is no joke.

C: this is the absolutely retardedest thing about drug prohibition. You want to keep it from the kids? Kids ain't narcs and dealers know it. It's easier for a kid to buy dope than an adult. Hell, you can buy pot in high schoold, but you can't buy beer there.

You would have to be on some strong drugs to think that outlawing marijuana could possibly have any positive effect on society.

Re:Adult entertainment?

[pixelpusher220]

And yours didn't question you reading Playboy at 9 years old?

My parents restricted the hours I watched TV and kept tabs on what I watched. They took an interest in what I did and with whom I did it. Reading was things that they provided or I asked for (and they approved before I got).

Is that really so hard to comprehend? It's called childhood, your parents are responsible for you (and liable to a pretty wide degree).

Indeed many things can happen outside of a parents view, but the stuff that's inside their OWN HOUSE, they have to own up to responsibility for.

Re:The System

[kohaku]

that some authority deems "harmful", like pictures of naked female breasts.

I hope you're joking. Have you seen the state of the world today? It's a shambles! The economy is collapsing, and I think we all know the reason. Every single one of our children sees naked female breasts from the very day they're born. This has to stop, and it has to stop now: the children are our future, and if we don't protect them from the naked horrors of pornography, who will?

Re:A very intelligent person

[blueg3]

Since I started watching the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street when I was 3, I've gained 160 pounds.

Re:It's hard for parents to do this

[drsmithy]

I would love it if the porn sites simply said that their money comes from adults and they have no business luring children into it (like smoking companies) and voluntarily made more protection for our kids to help make my parenting that much easier. I know this is wishful thinking, but at some point, freedom of speech is taking to a point of hurting our society and not helping.

What is this 'luring' ?

I've been browsing the web for ~15 years now, and I've _never_ ended up at a porn site "accidentally". If your kids are hitting porn sites, it's because they're looking for them deliberately.