June 29, 2004

The Court on COPA

The Supreme Court case dealing with sexually explicit content on the Internet feels right to me. The Child Online Protection Act was too broad and was self-defeating since online porn peddlers could just move their material to an offshore server. Even with the many flaws filtering software possess, the technological option seems to be the more effective means for parents to protect their children. All families are different. Some children mature faster than others, and parents have different ways of teaching sexual morality to their children. We live in a highly sexualized--too often of a coarse, ugly variety. Parents need tools not overly-restrictive laws.

A much more complicated question is whether government-funded libraries can be required to have filtering software installed on Net-connected computers. There's a question of adults' access to material not appropriate to children, but there's also the concern that libraries would become sources of hard-core, gross, disgusting sexual depravity. Most libraries don't carry Playboy (which is tame), but without filters it would, in essence, carry far more explicit material.

Then there's the question of whether it's the federal government's business how a local library should operate. We have the First Amendment brushing up against community standards and federalism.

The best decision would be for the court to junk the law on Ninth or Tenth Amendment grounds. (I leave the gory details to the law professors.) But that only tosses the decision of whether to have filters or not down another governmental level. Instead of the federal court deciding, the state supreme courts would rule. In this case, a reasonable solution would be to let individual libraries decide to have the filters. While Net access isn't ubiquitous its reach grows with each passing day. The First Amendment and free speech is more about being free to produce content not necessarily having free access to anything in any place at any time. It's not a perfect solution, but we don't live in a perfect world.

"High Court Upholds Block of Web Porn Law"

"High Court Ruling Boosts Internet Filters"

"Victory for Free Speech"