6. Juli 2000
Amerikanisches Gericht verhindert Internet-Zensur-Gesetz
Quelle: GILC Alert, the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign
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US Court strikes down Net censorship law
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A United States appeals court has struck down a Federal statute that
threatened to curtail Internet free speech.
The so-called "Child Online Protection Act" essentially banned individuals
from using the Internet to communicate any information considered "harmful
to minors." While the ban was supposedly limited to commercial speech, due
to the vague wording of the statute, the law would have applied to most
online forms of expression. Offenders faced up to six-month jail terms and
$150,000 US for each day of violation. The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU-a GILC member) challenged the law in court, along with 17 other groups
and individuals, including two other GILC members: the Electronic Privacy
Information Center (EPIC-a GILC member) and the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF-a GILC member).
The United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit eventually struck
down the Act as an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech. The court
noted that "[b]ecause of the peculiar geography-free nature of cyberspace, a
'community standards' test would essentially require every Web communication
to abide by the most restrictive community's standards." Moreover, the Court
of Appeals agreed that the statute unacceptably "imposes a burden on speech
that is protected for adults."
For an ACLU press release on this subject, visit
http://www.aclu.org/news/2000/n062200b.html
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