Friday, July 25, 2008

Court again blocks Internet porn law

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=28530

[Baptist Press] 25 Jul 2008---The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has again upheld a judge's decision to block enforcement of a congressional effort to protect children from Internet pornography.

A three-judge panel of the Third Circuit, based in Philadelphia, affirmed in a July 22 ruling a lower-court opinion permanently preventing enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). It marked the third time the court has endorsed a judge's preliminary or permanent injunction against the federal law.

The decision came a day after a three-judge panel of the same appeals court threw out a $550,000 indecency fine by the Federal Communications Commission against CBS Corp. The television network received the fine for its broadcast of the controversial 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that included the baring of one of singer Janet Jackson's breasts.

Enacted in 1998, COPA is intended to prohibit commercial websites from making sexually explicit material available to children under the age of 17, but it has never been enforced.

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