Here's one way to beat a censorship lawsuit - learn the plaintiff's attorneys sued the wrong targets. That's how an Internet censorship suit against the state of Virginia got thrown out of court last week.
The plaintiffs' attorneys - representing the likes of authors Harlan Ellison and Susie Bright, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, among others - should have sued a Virginia commonwealth attorney rather than the governor and the state attorney general, ruled the judge Friday. But People for the American Way attorney Larry Ottinger says it was a technicality and they're re-filing on Monday.
Wired says PFAW is likely to win the suit and the Friday ruling simply delays the inevitable, though.
Virginia's law making it a crime to show sexually explicit material on the Internet where minors could see it took effect last July.
