October 26, 2006 | Sex & Society

Anti-porn law challenged

An army of mainstream websites sharpened their swords and put on their armor this week in preparation for an industry-defining legal battle. Their opponent? The U.S. government, which wants to punish them for publishing content deemed potentially "harmful to minors" online.

Backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the websites, which include Salon.com, Nerve.com and other plaintiffs, are challenging the 1998 Child Online Protection Act [COPA], which they argue violates their free speech rights and makes them unfair targets for criminal prosecution.

According to Law.com, COPA has been ineffective since President Bill Clinton signed it eight years ago thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has twice upheld injunctions against it on free speech grounds.

"It has been the tradition in American First Amendment jurisprudence that we don’t limit speech to that which is suitable for children or some other vulnerable audience," Jeffrey Douglas, chairman of the Free Speech Coalition, told AVN Online.

"COPA," he continued, "says that rather than putting the burden on families to determine what it is that their children should see -- as we do with every other form of communication -- instead we have to limit communication to only that which is suitable for children, unless you restrict it by means of something like a credit card. That, of course, means that if you are an adult and want to see speech that you’re constitutionally protected to see and you happen to have a bad credit rating, you are barred from communicating. It’s bad law; it’s unconstitutional; it’s out of date.”

The plaintiffs in ACLU v. Gonzales argue that filtering software is a more effective means for restricting children's access to adult content; the government, however, insists that the software is ineffective, and that age verification is the only real solution.

Experts expect the ACLU to win its case, but caution that a loss could have profound implications for adult entertainment.

“The impact on the adult entertainment industry with a bad ruling will be [monumental]," Douglas said. "That is, it will cost money; it will harm the infrastructure of the industry."

And besides, how would you feel about having to enter your credit card number just to see some free porn?

• Latest round in Web porn law fight begins [Law.com]
• Websites file suite over Child Online Protection Act [AVN Online]