Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “as many of us know, the Child On-line Protection Act, or legislation better known as COPA, was signed into law on…”

“as many of us know, the Child On-line Protection Act, or legislation better known as COPA, was signed into law on October 21, 1998. I was the author of that legislation, which was designed to shield minors from Internet pornography. And despite my attempt to craft a narrowly tailored requirement involving only commercial, on-line pornographers to screen out minors before they distribute or sell pornographic materials on the Internet, by verifying their clients' adult status through the use of credit cards, adult access codes, or other reasonable technologies, last week the Supreme Court, on a 5-to-4 vote, voted to uphold a preliminary injunction that would block COPA from being implemented. This is now 6 years into this issue. After COPA was enacted, the Supreme Court ruled that mechanisms designed to filter minors away from graphic and obscene images on the Web may not be the least restrictive alternative available to accomplish our goal of protecting minors from porn on the Internet. I echo the opinion expressed by Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote in dissent, "My conclusion is that the Act, as properly interpreted, risks imposition of minor burdens on some protected material, burdens that adults wishing to view the material may overcome at modest cost." In other words, Justice Breyer felt that the burden ought to be on the pornographer, not on the parents to provide this kind of protection for their children.”