Coalition Files Amicus Brief against
Child Online Protection Act
A coalition of groups representing publishers, high-tech industries, and public interest groups submitted an amicus brief January 11 supporting the ACLU's challenge to the Child Online Protection Act, which requires Web sites to obtain proof of age before allowing viewing of material considered “harmful to minors.”
The groups, many of whom were involved in the successful challenge of the Communications Decency Act, include the Freedom to Read Foundation, the Association of American Publishers, the Newspaper Association of America, the Magazine Publishers of America, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Internet Alliance (representing online service providers).
Although the law is targeted only at “commercial pornographers,” the brief asserts that mainstream businesses and organizations are “faced with potential criminal penalties for guessing wrong as to what a local federal prosecutor might believe is 'harmful to minors' in a given community.”
U.S. District Judge Lowell A. Reed is expected to rule on the case by February 1.
Posted January 18, 1999.
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