IN THE
Supreme Court of the United States
No. 00-1293
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Petitioner,
v.
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, et al.,
Respondents.
_________________________
On Writ of Certiorari to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
_________________________
BRIEF AMICI CURIAE
IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS
Amici collectively represent a large number of companies who
engage in or facilitate commerce on the Internet. Amici, both as
individual entities and as associations, share the goal of protecting
children from harmful material online and recognize the need to
make available mechanisms that do so.
When the government regulates speech based on content,
however, it must demonstrate that it has chosen the least restrictive
available alternative. In the view of amici, the government cannot
make that demonstration in this case. As this Court recognized
when striking down the precursor to the statute at issue here,
"`currently available user-based software suggests that a reasonably
effective method by which parents can prevent their children from
2
accessing sexually explicit and other material which parents may
believe is inappropriate for their children will soon be widely
available.'" Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844, 877 (1997) (quoting
ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. 824, 842 (E.D. Pa. 1996)). Since
that decision, the number and efficacy of the available user-based
tools have increased dramatically. Amici have played an active role
in developing and promoting these user-based tools, and submit this
brief amici curiae to explain why the existence of these tools makes
clear that the content-based restriction in the Child Online
Protection Act ("COPA") is not the least restrictive means of
protecting children from harmful material on the Internet.
INTEREST OF AMICI1
SNIPPETS:
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, et al.,
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Amici collectively represent a large number of companies who engage in or facilitate commerce
Amici, both as individual entities and as associations, share the goal of protecting children
When the government regulates speech based on content, however, it must demonstrate that it
As this Court recognized when striking down the precursor to the statute at issue here,
accessing sexually explicit and other material which parents may believe is inappropriate for
Amici have played an active role in developing and promoting these user-based tools, and
Amici are the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, the Internet Technology
The Internet is a decentralized, self-maintained networking system that links computers and
Amici do contend, however, that where, as here, a statute directly regulates lawful content
Accordingly, amici urge the Court to conclude, as did the District Court and the Third
For example, "GetNetWise," an industry-wide children's online safety project, works to ensure
Their versatility helps ensure that individual households can tailor their preferences for
the vast majority of Internet service providers offer access to these blocking and filtering
Widely used Internet browsers and search engines today provide from custofree mers with the
These tools are the most effective way to protect children online, and they do so without
But "the mere fact that a statutory regulation of speech was enacted for the important
COPA's limited effectiveness is even more troubling in light of its restrictiveness.
Thus, "hen a plausible, less restrictive alternative is offered to a content-based speech
See COPA Commission, Final Report of the COPA Commission, Oct. 20, 2000, at 13 ("Material
the Commission found that user-side filtering and blocking technologies are more effective
even that article does not support the conclusion that Web publishers can effectively screen
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