Federal Court Once Again Upholds Ban On Unconstitutional Internet Censorship Law
(7/22/2008)
Decision Underscores ACLU's Decade-Long Challenge To So-Called Child Online Protection Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
PHILADELPHIA - In a clear victory for free speech today, a federal court once again upheld a ban on a law that would criminalize constitutionally protected speech on the Internet. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the unconstitutional Child Online Protection Act (COPA) on behalf of a broad coalition of writers, artists and health educators who use the internet to communicate constitutionally protected speech.
"For years the government has been trying to thwart freedom of speech on the Internet, and for years the courts have been finding the attempts unconstitutional," said Chris Hansen, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group. "The government has no more right to censor the Internet than it does books and magazines."
Previously, a federal district court and a federal appeals court found the online censorship law violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld that decision, effectively banning enforcement of the law in June 2004 and sending the case back to the district court to determine whether there had been any changes in technology that would affect the constitutionality of the statute, such as whether commercially available blocking software was still as effective as the banned law might be in blocking material deemed "harmful to minors." In March 2007, a district judge once again struck down COPA; the government again appealed, and today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the ban.
--MORE--
Decision Underscores ACLU's Decade-Long Challenge To So-Called Child Online Protection Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
PHILADELPHIA - In a clear victory for free speech today, a federal court once again upheld a ban on a law that would criminalize constitutionally protected speech on the Internet. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the unconstitutional Child Online Protection Act (COPA) on behalf of a broad coalition of writers, artists and health educators who use the internet to communicate constitutionally protected speech.
"For years the government has been trying to thwart freedom of speech on the Internet, and for years the courts have been finding the attempts unconstitutional," said Chris Hansen, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group. "The government has no more right to censor the Internet than it does books and magazines."
Previously, a federal district court and a federal appeals court found the online censorship law violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld that decision, effectively banning enforcement of the law in June 2004 and sending the case back to the district court to determine whether there had been any changes in technology that would affect the constitutionality of the statute, such as whether commercially available blocking software was still as effective as the banned law might be in blocking material deemed "harmful to minors." In March 2007, a district judge once again struck down COPA; the government again appealed, and today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the ban.
--MORE--