(Probably final) COPA decision

The latest set of arguments on the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 were heard by a federal appeals court for a month last fall. The decision of a permanent injunction against the law's enforcement came down today. The Justice Department argued last fall that filtering isn't enough protection for online kids, COPA was needed. Here's a summary of Judge Lowell Reed Jr.'s opinion on filtering in the Progress & Freedom Foundation blog - basically there are lots of options, they're easy to use, easily obtainable, and they've improved a lot since '98. PFF also looks at what Judge Reed says about age verification, which is very relevant to the current public discussion about child protection in social sites (see PFF's thorough study, "Social Networking and Age Verification," 3/07). COPA, which has been called "son of CDA," was blocked almost immediately after it was signed into law. It has been to the Supreme Court twice, only to be handed back to the lower federal court in Philadelphia for further deliberation. "CDA," the Communications Decency Act of 1996, had been rejected on First Amendment grounds by a lower court and then, in 1997, by the Supreme Court. Here's the full text of the court's decision in this case, American Civil Liberties Union, et al. v. Attorney General Roberto R. Gonzales, and here's coverage of today's decision from CBS/AP and a blog post about it from my BlogSafety.com co-director, Larry Magid.