WASHINGTON, February 1, 1999 — A broad group of publishers, librarians, civil libertarians and industry groups hailed yesterday¼s decision by a federal judge in Philadelphia blocking the government from enforcing the Child Online Protection Act, which has a potentially chilling effect on the Americans¼ right to free speech and fails to protect children.

This is the second time Judge Lowell A. Reed has ruled that the law is likely to violate the First Amendment, and means the government cannot enforce the COPA until a decision is rendered on its constitutionality. A full trial may be held later this spring.

The group of more than 20 organizations representing publishers, Internet service providers, civil liberties organizations, journalists and the technology industry filed an amicus brief on January 11 in support of the American Civil Liberties Union¼s challenge to the COPA.

The law is the government¼s second attempt to censor speech on the Internet. Many of the groups signing the amicus were plaintiffs in the successful challenge to the Communications Decency Act -- Congress' first effort to censor speech on the Internet -- which was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 1997.

The amicus in the current case argued that less restrictive alternatives ‚ such as filtering software and other technologies ‚ do a far better job of protecting children in a global medium than any U.S. law ever could, and that the COPA, like the Communications Decency Act before it, threatened to chill the level of discourse on the Internet to that "suitable for a sand box."

The judge agreed, holding that, "The record before the Court reveals that blocking or filtering technology may be at least as successful as COPA would be in restricting minors' access to harmful material online without imposing the burden on constitutionally protected speech that COPA imposes on adult users or Web site operators." The complete ruling can be found at www.cdt.org.

"The Philadelphia court¼s ruling is a major victory for free speech online," said Jerry Berman, Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a leading Internet civil liberties organization and signatory to the amicus brief. "This court, like the U.S. Supreme Court before it, understands what Congress did not: Attempts like this to censor the Internet are ill-conceived, ineffective and unconstitutional."

"Judge Reed's decision reaffirms that speech on the Internet requires breathing room. Overbroad regulations pose a real danger to the ability of this unique medium to reach its full democratic and commercial potential," said Bruce Rich, partner at Weil, Gotschal & Manges in New York, a first amendment authority whose firm coordinated the amicus filing.

Judith Krug, Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, promised that, "We will continue to use every opportunity to lay out our complete line of reasoning that shows how detrimental this law is to free speech on the Internet."

A full trial on COPA¼s constitutionality is expected later this spring, although Monday¼s ruling could be appealed immediately. The decision of the trial court will almost certainly eventually be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

The signatories to the Amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs were: The Association of American Publishers, Inc., American Society of Newspaper Editors, BiblioBytes, Inc., The Center for Democracy and Technology, The Comicbooks Legal Defense Fund, The Commercial Internet eXchange Association, The Computer and Communications Industry Association, The Freedom to Read Foundation, The Interactive Digital Software Association, The Internet Alliance, Magazine Publishers of America, The National Association of College Stores, The National Association of Recording Merchandisers, The Newspaper Association of America, People for the American Way Foundation, The Periodical and Book Association of America, Inc., PSINet Inc., The Publishers Marketing Association, The Recording Industry Association of America and The Society of Professional Journalists.

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