CDT, Others Fight Child Online Protection Act
Oct 30, 2007
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and 17 other organizations collaborated on a "friend of the court" brief that CDT submitted yesterday in federal appeals court as part of the ongoing legal battle over the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The law, which has been struck down in several court rulings, would make it a crime to place content deemed "harmful to minors" on the Web unless it's protected behind an age-verification or credit card screen. The government's latest appeals case is now before the Third Circuit court.
Along with CDT, some of the groups who signed on to the brief include the Computer and Communications Industry Association, the Information Technology Association of America, the Media Access Project and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
Here's a summary of their position: "COPA places unconstitutional burdens on producers and distributors of Web content. Other strategies are more effective than COPA at protecting children from inappropriate online content, and also impose fewer restrictions on lawful adult speech -- in particular, technological parental controls such as Internet filtering software and non-technological tools such as youth education."
More info, including a download of the court filing, is available at CDT's site.
Tags:
CDT, COPA, free speech
