Supreme Court porn hearing

Supreme Court porn hearing

The US Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday about the Child Online Protection Act, the 1998 net censorship law that has been repeatedly ruled unconstitutional by lower courts. The law would ban "any communication for commercial purposes that is available to any minor and that includes any material that is harmful to minors" and would require adult material (like the site you're reading) to be cordoned off behind a credit card or other age-verification system.

Solicitor General Theodore Olson told the justices on Tuesday that indecent material is "persistent and unavoidable" and causes "substantial psychological and physiological damage on children."

To illustrate his point, Olson said he went on his home computer over the weekend, typed in "free porn" on a search engine and 6 million Web sites popped up.

A quick Google check shows indeed 6.7 million hits for "free porn". By comparison, "free bible" brings up 6.0 million hits, while "free church" brings up 7.7 million hits. Also pretty damn persistent, but I can attest that those sites are easily avoidable. Sadly, "free speech" trails the pack with 5.8 million hits.

More coverage (mostly registration-required links) of the Supreme Court hearing here and here and here.

« Dildoll | Main | Missouri senate redefines "nudity" »