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Federal Judge Rules Child Online Protection Act Unconstitutional

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2007 - 4:08pm.

Washington - A federal judge has ruled that the ten-year-old Child Online Protection Act (COPA) -- which has never been enforced, but provided criminal and civil penalties for those making sexually explicit content freely available online -- is unconstitutional, and issued a permanent injunction barring its enforcement.

tags: Lawsuits | Policy | Privacy | Washington | Pornography | ACLU | COPA |

Study: 1% of All Websites Are Pornographic; Filters Over 90% Effective

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 15, 2006 - 3:36pm.
Philadelphia - According to the findings of a U.S. government study, about 1% of all websites indexed by Google and Microsoft are sexually explicit, the Associated Press reported.
tags: Internet | Law | Reports | Metrics | Adult | Censorship | Children | Parental Control | ACLU | COPA |

ACLU, U.S. Govt. in Court Again Over Child Online Protection Act

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 23, 2006 - 1:21pm.
Philadelphia - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was in court again on Monday to continue its challenge to the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which has not yet been enforced but would criminalize the act of publishing materials "harmful to children" online. The Supreme Court has already weighed in on the law, twice granting preliminary injunctions against its enforcement, and asked a lower court in Philadelphia to determine whether there have been any changes in technology that would affect the constitutionality of the statute.
tags: Internet | Law | Lawsuits | Censorship | Children | Parental Control | ACLU | COPA |

FTC Fines Social Network Xanga $1 Million for Underage User Accounts

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 8, 2006 - 2:16pm.
Washington - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week that social networking site Xanga.com will pay the largest civil penalty levied thus far -- $1 million -- for allegedly violating the Children's Online Privacy Act. The company is alleged to have allowed some 1.7 million accounts over the past five years to be created by persons whose stated age was younger than 13.
tags: Internet | Law | Online Publishing | Social Networking | FTC | Children | Fines | UGC | Xanga | COPA |