Appeals Court Rules COPA Is Unconstitutional
Jul 22, 2008
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling today, affirming that the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) is unconstitutional.
It's the latest development in the legal saga surrounding COPA, the 1998 law that would make it a crime to publish online content that is deemed harmful to minors unless it's protected behind an age-verification or credit card screen. According to the Associated Press, the appeals court found COPA to be "overly broad and vague" and agreed with opponents who claimed it violates First Amendment protections.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), which had filed a briefing in the case opposing COPA, released a statement praising the ruling. Meanwhile, the AP reports that the Department of Justice will review the ruling before deciding what to do next, which may include taking COPA back to the Supreme Court.
UPDATE (7.24.08): Adam Thierer wrote this post about the COPA decision in which he points to analyses by Declan McCullagh and Susan Crawford (coincidentally, all three spoke at Tech Policy Summit '08),
Tags:
Center for Democracy and Technology, Child Online Protection Act, child safety, COPA, Internet regulation
