Court puts block on web porn law

THE US Supreme Court has blocked a law meant to shield web-surfing children from dirty pictures and online come-ons, ruling that the law also would cramp the free speech rights of adults to see and buy what they want on the internet.

Technology such as filtering software may better protect children from unsavoury material than such laws, the court said in a 5-4 ruling.

“Filters are less restrictive” and thus pose less risk of muzzling free speech, Justice Anthony M Kennedy wrote for the majority. “They impose selective restrictions on speech at the receiving end, not universal restrictions at the source.”

The 1998 law, signed by then-President Bill Clinton and backed by the Bush administration, would require adults to use access codes or other ways of registering before they could see objectionable material online, and it would punish violators with fines up to $50,000 or jail time.

It has been on hold during the challenge on behalf of artists, bookstores, an online sex therapist, and a gynaecological information site. The American Civil Liberties Union argued the law could make criminals out of anyone who offered racy material to adults.