22 May 2001, 12:00 am
The 1998 Act sets out criminal penalties and civil fines for knowingly placing objectionable material where a child could find it on the internet. It was intended to only apply to commercial web sites but it has never been enforced.
Free speech pressure groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, successfully argued to a lower court that the terms of COPA could make illegal the web sites of museums and bookstores. Further, the court said COPA would, if enforced, force all web sites to comply with the moral standards of the strictest communities. The US Department of Justice has appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court.
In a separate case, the Supreme Court is also expected to rule on the constitutionality of the US Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA), which expanded federal child porn statutes to include a ban on virtual or computerised child porn
The US also has the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA – not to be confused with COPA) which came into force on 21st April, 2000 and was applied for the first time in April 2001.