[Infowarrior] - SCOTUS won't review COPA decision

[Richard Forno]

Supreme Court won't revive online content law

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090121/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_internet_blocking

WASHINGTON – The government lost its final attempt Wednesday to revive  
a federal law intended to protect children from sexual material and  
other objectionable content on the Internet.

The Supreme Court said it won't consider reviving the Child Online  
Protection Act, which lower federal courts struck down as  
unconstitutional. The law has been embroiled in court challenges since  
it passed in 1998 and never took effect.

It would have barred Web sites from making harmful content available  
to minors over the Internet.

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled that would violate the  
First Amendment, because filtering technologies and other parental  
control tools are a less restrictive way to protect children from  
inappropriate content online.

The act was passed the year after the Supreme Court ruled that another  
law intended to protect children from explicit material online — the  
Communications Decency Act — was unconstitutional.

The Bush administration had pressed the justices to take the case.  
They offered no comment on their decision to reject the government's  
appeal.

Five justices who ruled against the Internet blocking law in 2004  
remain on the court.

The case is Mukasey v. ACLU. 08-565.