[Infowarrior] - Court throws out 2257 proof-of-age rule

[Richard Forno]

Court Throws Out Rule Requiring Adult Sites To Keep Records And Proof Of Age
For All Performers
from the that-first-amendment-thing dept

Just last week, Wired had an article looking at how a particular section of
law regulating adult content could potentially hurt the growth of "user
generated" porn sites. The law in question required any "publisher" of adult
content to obtain and permanently keep records proving that the "performers"
in question were of legal age. Obviously, the goal here is to prevent child
porn -- but many felt that such a rule was incredibly burdensome on those
who were producing legitimate adult content, and it was even worse for "user
generated" sites that would now require such information from every
participant. Now, Slashdot points out that the Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals has found the law to be unconstitutional, as it violates the First
Amendment. The Slashdot post is a little misleading, implying that the case
was about age verification for viewers. It's actually about the performers.
The full ruling (pdf) is an interesting read, but the crux of the argument
is that while preventing child porn is a noble goal, if it ends up putting a
burden on plenty of legitimate expression, then it's a clear First Amendment
violation. Many people may not think this is a big deal, as they don't care
for adult content or don't have any problem with having it heavily regulated
-- but as the court notes, the right for people to remain anonymous is an
important part of the First Amendment. Weakening that right -- even if for a
reasonable end goal -- starts you down a slippery slope.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20071023/230307.shtml