Thank you, Judge Lowell Reed Jr., for understanding that the cure can often be worse than the disease. Finally, a little common sense prevails. The really incredible part is that it prevailed in a federal court ruling. Will wonders never cease?
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A federal judge has [a href="vny!://ibtimes.com/articles/20070322/internet-blocking.htm"]struck down the Child Online Protection Act[/a]. The judge said that parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit others' rights to free speech. This was the case for which the US Department of Justice subpoenaed several search companies for search records; [a href="vny!://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/18/0833247&tid=217"]only Google fought the order[/a]. The case has [a href="vny!://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/13/1559239&tid=123"]already been to the Supreme Court[/a].
Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. wrote in his decision: "Perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection."
Even so, children and young adults (13-17) are still at extreme risk on the Internet, especially at places like MySpace, Facebook, MSN LiveSpace, etc. What do you suggest can be done since parents can't be with their children 24/7?
Kids ARE supposed to be semi responsible once they hit their teens... they do know the major differences between right and wrong at that point.
That being siad I agree with TB. Its one thing to protect the public.. but to go so far as to 'put them under lock and key for their own good' is going too far.
Judges to me, seem to be making more and more controversial rulings not for justice, but to make themselves look like trendsetters and put their names in history books.
It's all relative, whether or not we get our names in the history books, we'll all be history in any case.
Gopher wrote:
It's all relative, whether or not we get our names in the history books, we'll all be history in any case.lol, thats a pretty good overview Gopher!