Court will revisit question of porn in libraries

The Supreme Court has agreed to revisit the question of how to protect children from online pornography without resorting to what some call unconstitutional censorship.

The case asks whether Congress is trying to restrict too much smutty material that some say adults have the right to see or buy. The court will decide whether the government can require some form of an adults-only screening system to ensure children cannot see inappropriate and/or pornographic material, according to the Associated Press.

This is the second time in two years that the high court has reviewed an Internet pornography law passed by Congress in 1998. The law, known as the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA, seeks to “prohibit online sites from knowingly making available to minors material that is harmful to minors (sexually explicit material meeting definitions set forth in the Act),” according to the Commission that drafted the law. The law also stipulated that “commercial providers of ‘harmful to minors’ material may defend themselves against prosecution by restricting the access of minors to such material.”

A federal appeals court has twice struck down the law, most recently in March with a ruling that said the law is riddled with problems that make it “constitutionally infirm.”

Previously, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled the law unconstitutional on grounds that it allowed Internet content to be judged by “contemporary community standards.”

The Bush administration has appealed to the high court, arguing that children are “unprotected from the harmful effects of the enormous amount of pornography on the World Wide Web,” and asking the court for a definitive ruling that will protect children under the stipulations of the Act. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing booksellers, artists, explicit Web sites and others, challenging the COPA as an unconstitutional “damper on free speech,” according to AP. Administration officials disagree. Solicitor General Theodore Olson told the court that the law is a reasonable solution to the proliferation of online pornography, emphasizing that the law targets commercial pornographers. The main target of the law, according to Olson is, commercial pornographers who use sexually explicit “teasers” to lure customers.

The free teasers are available to nearly anyone surfing the Internet, children and adults alike. The pictures sometimes appear even when computer users are not seeking out pornography.

First-time violators of COPA could spend six months in jail and be fined $50,000. Repeat offenders would face additional fines. The law has never been enforced and is on hold pending its court challenges.

The high court is expected to hear the case early next year.

— E.P. News