Supreme Court Ends 10-Year Government Quest for Censorship Bill

The Supreme Court Wednesday dealt the final blow to the government’s 10-year campaign to place onerous restrictions on Internet content; the Court refused to hear the government’s appeal of lower court rulings that found the Child Online Protective Act unconstitutional. “We applaud the Court’s decision, which ends the government’s
quixotic and wasteful ten-year effort to impose an unconstitutional censorship standard on Internet content,” said CDT President Leslie Harris. Since COPA passed there have been at least three major commissions or studies that have concluded that education and voluntary technology tools are the most effective way to protect kids online. CDT believes now is the time, in this changing political climate, to pursue new and constitutional ways to empower parents with practical ways to protect children online.