Court Overturns Michigan
Unsolicited Cyberporn Law
On June 1 a federal judge permanently enjoined a 1999 Michigan law that criminalized the online dissemination of sexually explicit materials to minors. ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation had filed an amicus curiae brief against the law, which exempted librarians in the workplace from incurring a maximum two-year sentence and/or $10,000 fine.
Judge Arthur J. Tarnow, who had issued a temporary injunction in July 1999, concluded that the law violated the First Amendment and the Commerce Clause. He wrote that while “the State has a compelling interest to protect minor children…from exposure to obscene materials,” the law infringed on adults’ right to receive information and attempted to regulate speech beyond the borders of Michigan. “Every computer is manufactured with an on/off switch, that parents may utilize, in the end to control the information which comes into their home via the Internet,” Tarnow noted.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan represented 10 plaintiffs in the case that included California marriage and family therapist Marty Klein, owner of www.sexed.org, and Internet service provider Cyberspace Communications of Ann Arbor.
Posted June 18, 2001.
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