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June 12, 1996
"I hate to say I told you so. But I did. Today's ruling is no suprise--the CDA[Communications Decency Act] is fraught with constitutional problems. The Cox-Wyden bill, passed 420-4 in the House, is the better approach to cyberporn. Perhaps now that he is in the Senate, my former colleague Ron Wyden can convince a majority there to vote for it. There is no time to lose.
"Because my kids will soon be old enough to surf the Internet on their own, I don't want to waste the next five years in more litigation. The Exon approach, whatever else one may say of it, will be tied up in the courts indefinitely. It should be abondoned."
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(On August 7, 1995, the House of Representatives voted 420-4 in support of an amendment offered by Congressman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) and then-Congressman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The amendment, empowering parents to protect their children from pornography on the Internet, was attached to the House telecommunications bill, which passed 305-117. In the Senate, more restrictive language was adopted criminalizing transmission of "indecent" images via the Internet. This Senate language, which became part of the final law, was the subject of today's ruling in which the Federal District Court in Philadelphia cited First Amendment concerns in barring its implementation.)
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Back to the Citizen Internet Empowerment Coalition Page
Posted on June 12, 1996