no, the only way a prior ruling sets precedence is in a published Appellate Court ruling.

Most Appellate Court rulings aren't even published.

wrong. Just because someone is convicted of a crime does not set precedent.

First they have to be convicted, then they have to appeal said ruling, the appeal would have to be upheld, and then that ruling would have to be published.

A very small percentage of appellate court or even Supreme Court rulings are published and therefore set precedence.

This is your brain



This is your brain on drugs

Minors should be protected from engaging in adult activities (porn) just as they cannot enter bars...adult stores...purchase alchohol...tabacco...rent adult movies etc. If any of these businesses allow entry by minors or sell to minors their businesses can be shut down and they in fact can be prosecuted. It is not just a parents responsibility but the responsibility of all adults.

Most Federal and State Appellate court opinions are published when they discuss a new law or a new theory. Since we are talking about a new law ?The Truth in Domains Act? the defendant will more than likely challenge the law on a constitutional basis. In fact it is probably his best defense. It will go to the appeals court because the loosing party will likely appeal whatever ruling is issued on the bench at the trial court level. I mean come on can you see the government just walking away from their case if the trial court judge rules that the Truth in Domains Act is unconstitutional, or can you see the defendant giving up his freedom and not appealing an unfavorable ruling?

maybe this will turn out to be the end of the free tgp and free sites, and everyone will have to give up that credit card number if they want to see porn. Just the way it should be.

Expect that there is no way to do that on the Internet. You don?t know how old your users are based upon their IP address. Non-Obscene adult material is protected speech under the first amendment. Drinking in a bar and renting an adult movie are not.

That won?t pass constructional muster and it should not. You can?t force the credit card companies to serve unwillingly as an age verification system. Hell in some school districts there is an experimental program where students are given a visa debt card to make school lunch purchases and other things. Having a credit card in this day and age has nothing to do with your age. In fact I would suspect that most 15-17 year olds with Internet access in their homes have either a debit or a credit card.

Thats what I was going to say

I have an Idea !!

Everyone can get a free electronic ID soon right ?

Right ?

Anyway, IF or when we have one and I'm thinking about participating in voting for new presiden and stuff online or
fill taxes and so. We have this in sweden - the voting for goverment coming really soon.

Anyway again, a company could start doing these like ccbill.
A porn surfer or any surfer, this is good for other stuff, can get this ID by going to the supermarket with his real ID :-)
or fax the real ID in with a signature, or in any other way !!

So on front page: Please enter your ID here.
This goes to ccbill or.. and verifies it and redirect him to the
site where he then can join using ccbill regular shit.

Bla bla bla....

No I have it !!!!!!!!!!!!

Instead of Electronic ID's we can have a Secret Question
for all adults. If they know they can enter !!

Yeeeessss !

Q: Do you have sex with your wife?
Correct A: No.

The fact is that they will use this case as a way of saying that we are ALL like this loser.

I have no problem following the law, it's when the law is so damn grey that you don't know what to do and there are no tools you can use to follow the law.

Anyone know of a good birthday verifyer javasript??

i atually have his entire list of domains..dont ask me where i got it...but since 98 he has registered just under 10k domains and mostly stuff like mispells of popular bands..cartoons..clothing stores..mega corporations...nascar guys..lots of non-adult stuff and most of it was redirected to adult sites..pretty shady

Some facts

1.All cases and rulings of "Courts of Record" are reported. That includes all US District, Tax and Appeals Courts and most State courts other than Justice, small claims and Municipal courts.

2. The safe rule to follow in any site is the one laid out in COPA even though it is not being enforced due to the injunction on it's enforcement. No "harmful material" or Pornography in front of an adult firewall. The definition of adult firewall includes a safe harbor for credit cards. The law was written befire kiddie cards became an item.

So if you want to play it safe
1. Don't use a domain name that appeals to children
2. Tease but don't have any pornography on any pages that can be viewed without entering a credit card or some other typpe of age verification.

:1orglaugh

This guy was intentionally pushing porn onto kids. I'm not sure of what law he's broken, but from the moral stand point there is something seriously wrong with this guy.

"protected speech" under the 1st Admendment is ultimately whatever the current, or future, members of the Supreme Court decide what is, or is not "protected speech".

Well as of right now non-obscene adult content is protected speech. They may redefine the definition of what is obscene, but some level of adult content will always be protected.

The problem with that ruling by the Court is...it is up to a jury of six, or a jury of 12, depending upon the jurisdiction...to make the decision about what is obscene, or is not obscene..."community standards".

I'm sure John's still laughing all the way to the bank as usual.

published and recorded are two different things, I don't know what you mean by reported. I can assure you that not all appellate cases are published and therefore available to cite as a reliance in future cases.

Why do I know? Because I have had a lower court ruling overturned on appeal, and it was not published. and for the record, it was the first test of a new law (motorcycle helmets in CA).

I am not familiar with the California COurt Hierarchy but usually a traffic case is tried in Municipal or Justice Court, neither are reported or published. I do not know what court in California would hear a traffic appeal.