Free Republic

The U.S. Supreme Court today blocked enforcement of a law designed to protect children from Internet pornography, believing the measure was likely a violation of free-speech rights. The 5-4 ruling in the case of Ashcroft vs. the American Civil Liberties Union is not the first time the high court has considered the case, and it likely won't be the last, as the issue now returns to a lower federal court, giving the federal government another chance to prove the law does not violate the First Amendment. The Child Online Protection Act was passed in 1998 and signed by then-President Clinton....

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a law meant to punish pornographers who peddle dirty pictures to Web-surfing kids is probably an unconstitutional muzzle on free speech. The high court divided 5-to-4 over a law passed in 1998, signed by then-President Clinton and now backed by the Bush administration. The majority said a lower court was correct to block the law from taking effect because it likely violates the First Amendment. The court did not end the long fight over the law, however. The majority sent the case back to a lower court for a trial that...

Supreme Court Strikes Down Anti-Porn Law By a 5-4 decision today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Child Online Protection Act, which was signed into law in 1998 as an attempt to shield children from online pornography. At the link below you can read the amicus brief we filed in this case, asking the Court to uphold the law. This decision is yet another victory at the High Court for pornographers, at the expense of America's children. Just one year ago the Supreme Court upheld the Children's Internet Protection Act because they realized the dangers in allowing children to...

<p>A 39-year-old Shreveport police officer resigned Friday, a day after being arrested in Bossier City on a charge of pornography involving juveniles .</p> <p>Sgt. Alain Pierce of Bossier City, who worked 18 years for Shreveport police, turned in a letter of resignation, Shreveport Police Chief Mike Campbell said. "At this point, he has resigned and won't be back."</p>

WASHINGTON -- Lam Nguyen's job is to sit for hours in a chilly, quiet room devoid of any color but gray and look at pornography. This job, which Nguyen does earnestly from 9 to 5, surrounded by a half-dozen other "computer forensic specialists" like him, has become the focal point of the Justice Department's operation to rid the world of porn. In this field office in Washington, 32 prosecutors, investigators and a handful of FBI agents are spending millions of dollars to bring anti-obscenity cases to courthouses across the country for the first time in 10 years. Nothing is off...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The Whitehouse.com Web site, one of the best examples that the Internet isn't always what it seems, is getting out of the pornography business. Its owner says he's worried what his preschool-age son might think.</p> <p>"He'll be going to kindergarten next year,'' said Daniel Parisi, who started the Web site in 1997 that is frequently confused with the official government site, www.whitehouse.gov. Parisi, 44, said he worried that his son's classmates might taunt him about the family's business.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to revisit the thorny question of how to protect children from online smut without resorting to unconstitutional censorship. The case asks whether, in the name of children, the law restricts too much material that adults have the right to see or buy. On a more practical level, the court will decide whether the government can require some form of adults-only screening system to ensure children cannot see material deemed harmful to them. This is the second time in as many years that the high court has reviewed an Internet pornography law passed...

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Internet activist Bennett Haselton has made a name for himself by helping minors disable filtering programs designed to block Web sites their parents deem offensive or pornographic. His Peacefire.org site offers free downloads and detailed methods for circumventing filtering software that critics say also inevitably blocks out a range of useful, even beneficial, Internet content. Yet while Haselton's crusade, launched six years ago while he was a college student, has made him a hero among some Web-savvy minors, he's something of a supervillain to filtering advocates. "He's being totally irresponsible," said Marc Kanter, marketing director for Santa...

Follow up to FR Post: Librarians to argue that blocking online porn is censorship Librarians Say 'Don't Make Us Thought Police' as Trial Challenging Internet Porn Filtering Opens By Joann Loviglio Associated Press Writer Published: Mar 26, 2002 PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Librarians complained that the government was trying to turn them into "thought police" as a trial over the constitutionality of a federal law requiring libraries to screen out Internet pornography opened. The trial, which is being heard by a three-judge panel, began Monday and was expected to last nine days. Leading the challenge to the Children's Internet Protection Act...