Federal Judge Strikes Down COPA

On Thursday, March 22, a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia struck down the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), legislation that would make it a crime for any commercial website to distribute to a minor material that is "harmful to minors." The judge's ruling said that parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit the free speech rights of others.

COPA, which was signed into law in 1998, has never been enforced because it was immediately challenged in the courts. Opponents of COPA, including the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the American Civil Liberties Union, have argued that the law violates the free expression rights of adults.

"The fight against the Child Online Protection Act is nine years old, but ABFFE and the other plaintiffs remain undefeated," said Chris Finan, president of ABFFE. Noting that the government is expected to appeal the ruling, he added, "When the case reaches the Supreme Court for the third time, the record will show an unbroken string of lower court decisions declaring it unconstitutional. We are confident that when the Supreme Court issues its final decision, it will join in rejecting this latest effort to censor the Internet."

ABFFE, ACLU, and other free expression groups contend that since minors can access any material that is posted on the Web, it means that an online bookstore could be prosecuted for merely displaying a book excerpt or picture of a book jacket that could be judged "harmful to minors." Under COPA, harmfulness is to be weighed by "community standards," and, therefore, a bookstore would have to assume that it would be judged by the standards of the most conservative community in the country. (Read more about COPA.)