Hello Again...COPA II

I am still puzzled over how newsworthy everyone is seeing the COPA Supreme Court decision on June 29, 2004.

The law became effective in october 1998 and was immediately enjoined. It went up to the US Supreme Court on an expedited appeal and was questioned. The Court of Appeals was asked ot make certain additional findings. It worked its way back to the Supreme Court and is now sent back for a trial in the lower court.

The law is not now and has never been in force. It was passed 6 years ago, in a very different technological environment and legal environment. At the time it was first enacted, the Department of Justice wrote a letter questioning the appropriateness of the law and the enforceability of the law. On top of that, it is still not dead, although in a close slit decision the Supreme Court has raised serious doubt of its constitutionality given the technology available today and the state of the law.

Here are some good links to the ACLU site with the relevant documents. I've linked to them here, and you may also want to read up about this at the www.aftab.com site (link from top of the front page).

No matter what your politics, though, we need a practical solution...and the laws no matter how well intentioned, don't provide that.

filtering, paretnal controls, filtered search engines and white lists, coupled with typosquatting legilation, obscentity enforcement and fraud investigations will help. And parents don't need the Supreme Court's decision to uphold their choices.