Censors everywhere I look


"For the children" strikes again
If this wasn't "for the children," it would be laughed out of court.

In 1998, the U.S. Congress enacted a sweeping Web censorship law that nearly everyone promptly forgot about.

Why? The explanation is simple: The American Civil Liberties Union immediately filed a lawsuit to block the U.S. Justice Department, and a federal judge granted an injunction barring prosecutors from enforcing the law. That injunction has been in place ever since.
But now that could change. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lowell A. Reed, Jr. in Philadelphia will hear closing arguments in the Child Online Protection Act case, and a ruling is expected by early 2007.

It's unlikely that Reed will lift the injunction, but it is possible. The case has already gone up to the U.S. Supreme Court once, at which point the justices asked Reed to evaluate whether the effectiveness of blocking software had changed in the last few years--a crucial question on which much of the case hinges. (That's because the ACLU argues filterware is a less restrictive means than a Net-censorship law.)

If Reed sides with the Bush administration, mainstream Web publishers will have plenty to worry about.

COPA makes it a federal crime to knowingly post Web pages that have sexually explicit material that's "harmful to minors." Violators could be fined up to $50,000 and imprisoned for up to six months.

One other thing, it's not just Republican conservatives who want censorship.

Steven Spielberg urged TV networks to be mindful of what they show on the air because of the effect it might have on children, and said programs like "CSI" and "Heroes" were too gruesome.

"Today we are needing to be as responsible as we can possibly be, not just thinking of our own children but our friends' and neighbors' children," Spielberg told an audience Monday at the International Emmys board of directors meeting here.

Spielberg decried on-air promotions for television shows like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" that showed "blood and people being dissected." He also said that when his favorite TV show of the new season, NBC's "Heroes," showed someone cut in half in the 9 p.m. hour, he sent his younger children out of the room.

"I'm a parent who is very concerned," he said.

In Speilberg's defense, he is only calling for "voluntary" censorship.

So far.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Tue - November 21, 2006 at 01:24 PM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library


Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved