Dump that law restricting online erotica, says a coalition of Internet companies, publishers, and trade associations to a federal appeals court, saying the law violates the First Amendment.
Keep your bloody hands off that law, say Congressional Republicans who've petitioned the court to uphold the law.
Nineteen groups comprise the coalition, according to Wired. They say the Child Online Protection Act violates the First Amendment free speech guarantee by going after AIDS and abortion information, film and audio reviews, and even idle sexual banter, according to an amicus brief filed Wednesday with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The coalition wants the court to uphold an earlier ruling from Philadelphia which declared the law unconstitutional and barred the Justice Department from enforcing it. The Clinton Administration appealed after the American Civil Liberties Union sued against the law and won in U.S. District Court.
The groups in the coalition argue that there is "no practicable means" by which most of those providing Internet content, "whether profit-motivated or otherwise," can block minors from access to that content without "unduly burdening" adults' free speech rights.
A few Congressional Republicans filed an earlier brief urging the appeals court to leave the law alone, arguing Congress aimed the Child Online Protection Act at "the dire situation" of "tens of thousands" of adult Web sites which adults and children alike can visit with no problems.
Congress's first bid to restrict erotic material online by legislation was thrown out overwhelmingly by the Supreme Court two years ago. A brief opposing the COPA is also expected from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wired says.
