COPA Struck Down!
 

In a stunning victory for Free Speech advocates, the Child Online Protection Act has been struck down by the Supreme Court. The Government has another chance to validate the law after a full, final hearing:

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2...pdf/03-218.pdf

:Graucho

It was toast from the beginning. These folks in Washington just don't understand the Net.

Need I remind you, it was 5-4.

5-4! Can't you see the future? One more conservative judge and your protection is toast.

Broad brush indeed! Like swatting a fly with Haley's Comet this ugly thing..

I knew that nothing was going to happen. I said it in the other thread.

Back to work

exactly

they'd be better off making a 'parents be more responsible about monitoring your kids' act

it was 5-4...........that alone is nightmarish.......time to wake up and work to get rid of this administration so they can't appoint another conservative judge.

Good shit :)

Amazing how hard some of these fucks try to bring us down :(

I it doesn't affect me because I am in UK and I can just go and host with peer1 or someone in canada I don't hope it goes through but it could make overseas webmasters rich if it does no ?

Thanks Larry for the update.

I think what this really means is that we need to be ready with the right technology on our sites before the new and improved version comes to court.

We'll see who listens to these clear signals.

How many of you pornographers will still vote for Bush this year?

I really didn't want to learn how to speak Dutch...:)

OMG! I just read Clarence Thomas was the swing vote in striking down COPA. Whoa. Scalia's house boy walked away from the farm on this one.

Good for him. Remember Anita Hill? :warning

:1orglaugh

I wonder how many right wingers here are still going to bitch about the ACLU after it just helped not fuck with their income.

Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God Thank God

I'm getting lots of questions about the legal impact of this decision, and what the future holds. So, here are my initial thoughts:

http://www.adultindustryupdate.com/a...%20Article.pdf

you ok ?

Can you elaborate on how you believe the Birth Date Verifier you are in the process of getting a patent for will have a real world impact on minors accessing adult content?

The article was good right up until it became a ad for your product. I was told if I bought your product and they came after me for a minor on my site I was still on my own. JD also said at a seminar it wouldnt protect us against COPA. So whats the point?

There's always a way around every law.

what the fuck is up with how this was reported on the wired.com's article!!!!!!!!!!

:/


grrrrrrrrrr



http://www.wired.com/news/business/0...w=wn_tophead_3


NOTE THE BOLDED WORDS...biased reporting? oooooo myyyyy




"WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a law meant to punish pornographers who peddle dirty pictures to Web-surfing kids is probably an unconstitutional muzzle on free speech.

The high court divided 5-to-4 over a law passed in 1998, signed by then-President Clinton and now backed by the Bush administration. The majority said a lower court was correct to block the law from taking effect because it likely violates the First Amendment. "






sounds like the asswipes who cry about 'maybe' citizens have the right to bear arms when we talk about 2nd Amendment rights...


you can either fucking own them or not, you can either speak your fucking mind or not....it's that simple...



oh well, although I've been copa-kosher for a long ass time....still makes me sick to see HOW CLOSE this one was....


I guess this'll let it slide for another year or so, it'll come up again and most likely be passed then or the following attempt....

copa was a clinton gore bill.

You people are clueless.

:Graucho

You have no idea what you are talking about.

The bill was written and passed by right wing Republicans. Clinton was against the bill and he only signed it when right wing Republicans said they would put pressure on him in public and threatened to try to make him look pro porn. This was at the same time that Republicans were going after Clinton and investigating him for everything they could think of.

Bush would appoint more right wing religious judges like Scalia, who said the following:

"Since this business could, consistent with the First Amendment, be banned entirely..."

John Kerry has repeatedly said that he believes in the separation between church and state.

Anyone who doesn't understand what a Bush appointed Supreme Court justice would mean to the adult industry is either stupid or in denial.

well, nice info piece, but the patent-pending "age verification" script is the silliest thing i've ever seen.

guess what, a 12 year old boy just lies about his age---some may think it makes the webmaster less culpable, but from an ethical standpoint it is the sort of smarmy lawyer bullshit that gives the law profession a bad name.

nice try selling that to any responsible webmaster who understands that the RIGHT thing to do is actually make a proactive attempt to keep kids off adult sites, rather than attempt to fashion a legal mechanism to cover the webmaster's ass.

content filtering, as the supreme court has suggested, is the MOST viable, practical solution to keeping kids off adult sites---it allows THEIR parents, or the owners of the online access to control what people can see in their browsers.

any "age verification" system where a surfer simply lies about his age is absolute bullshit and an insult to any webmaster with an IQ of at least 3 digits.

ICRA is today's best solution, and puts the onus on parents to assist in keeping their kids off the adult internet.

And your some kind of whiz bang yourself.

Under the Bush Administration we have a seen a dramatic increase in the funding provided to the DOJ to prosecute obscenity. Under Bush we have seen actual indictments handed down with more on the way. The COPA is being actively pushed by the Bush Administration, as well as probably the most significant erosion of personal rights in recent US history.

Get a clue yourself and don't support those who have a stated agenda to put you out of business.

:thumbsup

Politicians don't seem to understand our Constitution either. They keep trying to push BS bills that fit their agenda, through attached to others in hopes of them passing. Doing nothing but wasting our tax dollars and resources.

Gotta love democracy, sometimes I wish we could just nuke DC and start over.

Democrats are against porn too. The thing that I find funny is that everyone goes up in arms around election time and very rarely does someone get convicted, but lets not forget the one democrat who fucked people up a couple years ago.

http://www.webmasterjoint.com/articl...ranholm_ag.php

Bush and the conservatives are not the only people going after porn slingers regardless of what many of you think.

EDIT: She is now the governer of Michigan.

god bless long dong silver :Graucho

I know what Bush intends to do with everything from stuffing the Courts with right wing appointees to putting pornographers in prison. I do not know what Kerry wants to do.

You are correct that Democrats are not pro porn, but given the choice between a definite crusader against porn vs a potential crusader against porn, guess which one I plan to choose?

That's the thing, I have yet (i may be wrong) to see where a conservative politician has directly shut down a pornography website during Bush's term. She DID shut down sites it wasnt potential, it happened and she had the backing of the processors, we the webmasters did not.

woohoo :thumbsup

we are safe for now

it's not over though. In the article I read they sent it back to a lower court to argue over new technology. They said that since it's been 4-5 years since this bill was written that new technology may have emerged to allow for age verification online. So there will be another court case to determine if this is the case. If the gov. can prove there is a resonable way for people to verify their age and not lose thier rights it will be back.

This is just a baby step.

God its a shame you even had to ask that becasue for whatever reason some clueless fucks on this board vote rebpublican even though they are pornographers....I've been trying to figure that one out but everytime I do I get a headache.

:(

Nice try but tipper gore was behind this bill.

:Graucho

yes, Old Clarence came thru.... :winkwink:

If someone wants to "blame" a democrat for writing a bill, or suggesting a bill, or signing a bill, then you better THANK them for leaving such massive and obviously unconstitutional wording in it so that it keeps being struck down.

Better yet, lets move forward on the issue and do what we can to filter our traffic and implement good faith warning pages and digital signatures and require all submitters to have valid 2257 links etc etc etc.

Be proactive, not reactive. :2 cents:

Attorney Larry Walters, I have to admire the way you seem to truly favor free speech rights and celebrate this decision, since if the decision had gone the other way your phone would be ringing off the hook with new business.

Nice article, Larry!

Here's a web version for anyone who can't see the PDF one: http://www.freeadultwebmaster.com/ar...opajune04.html

Thank you Larry, I look forward to reading the slip tonight :thumbsup

As some may know, I have been using an age verification system for the past couple years which has proven to be quite useful.

They verify through other means than credit cards. Also they insure my transactions against government fines and legal action - so if i do get busted by someone, they will cover my ass.

If everyone wasn't so lazy, they would actually check these guys out. Google "online age verification" and you'll see them there.

Happy hunting!

Mailman

Democrats arent pro porn but they know there are better things to do with Govt resources. The most porn arrests have always happened during a Republican Admin. For Christ sake the current admin took people off of CP investigations to go after adult porn its crazy but on the other hand people in our industry have to grow the fuck up and start running their businesses responsibly.