Maryam Kubasek
Director of Communications
National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families
513/521-6227, ext. 111

Cincinnati--In a very confusing decision, the U.S. Supreme Court appears to have tipped the scales in favor of adults’ rights to access pornography over society’s interest in protecting children from that material.  The third attempt by Congress to regulate commercial pornography on the web that began with the Communications Decency Act in 1998 was met with a 5-4 decision that remanded the case back to the District Court for further fact finding.  The issue left up in the air is the ability of filtering software to adequately protect children from pornography in the absence of regulations forcing commercial pornographers to ensure that only adults are able to access their material.

“The Supreme Court is telling parents that they should expect no help from their government in protecting their children from pornography on the Internet – the rights of adults to have uninhibited access to pornography trumps society’s interest in protecting children,” said Dan Panetti, vice president for Legal & Public Policy for the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families.  “Filtering software is currently present and available to parents, but Congress understands that more needs to be done…five members of the U.S. Supreme Court disagree and believe that parents must shoulder the burden entirely by themselves.”

The National Coalition has been saying for years that parents are, and must remain, the first line of defense in the battle against online pornography.  “If there is one thing that parents need to take away from this case it would be that filtering solutions exist and should be utilized in their homes,” noted Jack Samad, senior vice president for Strategic Partnerships and Internet Safety.  “The National Coalition created www.filterreview.com to assist parents in learning about and selecting an appropriate filtering solution for their family.”

Ultimately, this case will go back to the District Court and may, for the fourth time, be before the Supreme Court in a couple of years; but the die is cast, the Supreme Court has sufficiently tied the hands of Congress from regulating material harmful to minors and protecting children from Internet pornography.  While this is an unfortunate decision for today, the ramifications of refusing to protect the minds of children from sexually explicit material will be felt for generations to come.