This morning the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, reversed a lower court's unanimous decision and upheld the Children's Internet Protection Act, requiring the use of blocking software for adults and minors in libraries that receive federal funding. The American Library Association had challenged the law as a violation of the First Amendment.
Fortunately, neither the Reuters and Associated Press stories about the
decision made the mistake of saying that the law only requires blocking
software to be used for minors. However, the stories also don't emphasize that the law requires blocking software for adults, so many pundits and members of the public will probably be confused about this, saying that the law only requires blocking software for people under 18. The text of the law, which is here: http://sethf.com/anticensorware/legal/001218cipa.html does explicitly say that blocking software is required for all ages to block "obscenity and child pornography" and that the only difference is that users under 18 also have to be blocked from material "harmful to minors".
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