Another Blow for the Child Online Protection Act
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit agreed today with a 2007 lower court ruling against the Child Online Protection Act (1998). The law, also known as COPA, makes it illegal to make "harmful" material on commercial websites accessible to minors. Under the law, sites wishing to include such content are expected to use a credit card as a confirmation of age. The law, which has been criticized as nearly impossible to uphold, has again been declared a violation of the first amendment, and therefore unconstitutional. It is important to note that COPA is different from COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act), which makes it illegal to collect personally identifiable information from children 13 and under.
Critics, including the ACLU, have long complained that the law is overly vague and that the burden of keeping children safe from "inappropriate" materials should fall on parents. The U.S. Justice Department and other proponents of the law argue that the tools available for parents and institutions (namely Internet filters) are not enough to protect our children.
As a parent, I have had mixed feelings about COPA for a while now. Of course, I would like my children to be able to explore the Internet free of pornographic language and images. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want someone else deciding what is appropriate for my family. Right now it may be sexual content, but it certainly opens the doors for the censorship of a variety of things that fall into more gray categories. And, how does this protect our children from the plentiful websites run from outside the United States?
I'm curious to know what you think? What is the best way to protect our kids from harmful content? Is it a law? A filter? A parent standing over their shoulder?
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Comments
I really don’t know one way or the other on the laws. The definition of material subject to the law would have to be very clear, and if it isn’t enforceable anyway, then what’s the point?
As far as parents go, it is more than standing over kids’ shoulders. Parents have to teach kids that certain material exists that is demoralizing and will only serve to harm them. Then give kids the rules and the upbringing they need so that they can make good choices on their own. There is no way to make sure that your child will never have an opportunity to be exposed to bad content; it is too prolific and easily accessible. The only hope we have is to teach them to make the good decisions on their own.
But what about the kids who didn’t get that lesson, how do we protect them? I have no idea and I don’t know enough about what is enforceable to develop a plan. I only hope that someone who specializes in that area can come up with something good — for the sake of all of our children.
I agree with Carey. As parents, we have to give our children the tools to interpret and understand the many harmful images and messages they will see as they become adults. For me that includes unhealthy materialistic and overly sexualized messages as well as pure porn. With a teenager, I think you need open lines of communications and online safety rules. With little kids … parent over the shoulder!
I completely agree. If children aren’t made aware of the dangers, how will they learn the proper way to act when presented with danger?
I don’t think that a law can be a viable solution in a situation like this. The term ‘harmful’ is entirely too vague and means different things to different people.
Besides, it’s not the government’s place to decide what is appropriate for whom. Leave that to the parents.