JUDGE BLOCKS INTERNET-INDECENCY LEGISLATION
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Copyright © 1996 Nando.net
Copyright © 1996 Reuter Information Service
PHILADELPHIA (Feb 15, 1996 6:51 p.m. EST) - A federal judge Thursday
issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of new
legislation prohibiting the distribution of indecent material to
minors over computer networks.
However, in ruling on the suit, filed February 8 by the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups, U.S. District Court Judge
Ronald Buckwalter said his order applied only to enforcement of
penalties against indecent materials, and not obscene ones.
Buckwalter said the law, known as the Communications Decency Act,
failed to define "indecent" sufficiently and may be too vague to be
constitutional.
"Where I do feel that the plaintiffs have raised serious, substantial,
difficult and doubtful questions is in their agrument that the
(legislation) is unconstitutionally vague in the use of the undefined
term 'indecent,' Buckwalter said.
The ACLU's suit against the act and request for a preliminary
injunction blocking it will now be heard by a three-judge district
court panel under an expedited procedure that would enable any
subsequent appeal to be heard directly by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"It's a partial victory," said Stefan Presser, legal director of the
Philadelphia ACLU chapter. He said the group would continue to fight
the obscenity provisions of the act.
A date for the next court hearing has not been set.
Opponents of the legislation contend the law was technologically
impossible to meet and would unfairly hamper free expression over
mushrooming computer networks such as the Internet by penalizing a
potentially wide variety of sexual-related information.
The Justice Department argued in a brief filed on Wednesday that the
act was clearly worded to apply only to "patently offensive" material
and aimed only to keep it inaccessible by children. It said such
provisions were constitutionally valid.
But Buckwalter said in his ruling, "depending on who is making the
judgment, indecent could include a whole range of conduct not
encompassed by 'patently offensive."
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