By MARYCLAIRE DALE
AP
PHILADELPHIA (March 22) - A federal judge on Thursday threw out a 1998 law that makes it a crime for commercial Web site operators to let children access “harmful” material.
In the ruling, the judge said parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit the rights of adults to free speech.
“Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection,” wrote Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr., who presided over a four-week trial last fall.
The law would have criminalized Web sites that allow children to access material deemed “harmful to minors” by “contemporary community standards.” The sites would have been expected to require a credit card number or other proof of age. Penalties included a $50,000 fine and up to six months in prison.
I think that this decision was 100% wrong. IMHO one of the few things that government regulations should do is protect our children from the porn industry and other moral destructive activities.
I see nothing wrong with those that want to see this content having to go through “hoops” instead of the parents that are trying to protect their children having to go through “hoops”.
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