The Third Circuit once again struck down the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), holding that since the statute was not narrowly tailored to its purpose nor the least restrictive means to achieve it, COPA failed strict scrutiny. Additionally, the court determined that COPA was void for vagueness and for overbreadth. COPA was passed in response to Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997), which held that the anti-obscenity provisions of the Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment. COPA has been before the Supreme Court twice now. In prior cases, courts passed on the question whether to grant a temporary injunction against enforcing the law. Now, the district court has conducted its fact-finding and made its injunction permanent. In this case, the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgments.
Published in Tuesday, November 11, 2008, Volume 6, No. 2Stanford Center for Internet and Society
In the heart of the Silicon Valley, legal doctrine is emerging that will determine the course of civil rights and technological innovation for decades to come. The Center for Internet and Society (CIS), housed at Stanford Law School and a part of the Law, Science and Technology Program, is at the apex of this evolving area of law.
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