The House Commerce Committee unanimously approved the Child Online Protection Act September 25. The bill would make commercial Web sites require proof of age before allowing viewing of material considered "harmful to minors." It does not cover Usenet newsgroups, chat rooms, or other non-Web Internet activity.
The narrower focus of the bill is intended to avoid the constitutional pitfalls that prompted the Supreme Court to overturn its predecessor, the Communications Decency Act, which used the broader standard of "indecency."
Opponents have noted the irony of the legislation's rapid movement through the House in the wake of the posting of the sexually explicit Starr Report on the House's Web site. Staffers of Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio), the bill's sponsor, maintain the report is not technically "harmful."
The bill would also create a Commission on Online Child Protection to study ways to prevent children from accessing indecent material.
Companion legislation was passed by the Senate in July as part of an appropriations bill.
Posted September 28, 1998.