VICTORY!
On March 22, 2007, the ACLU declared victory in its challenge to the "Child Online Protection Act" (COPA.) A federal district court ruled that COPA violates the constitutional right to free speech.

This challenge to Internet censorship in ACLU v. Gonzales (originally ACLU v. Reno, then ACLU v. Ashcroft) began in October 2006. The law threatened draconian criminal sanctions, with penalties of up to $50,000 per day and up to six months imprisonment, for sites presenting online material acknowledged as valuable for adults but judged "harmful to minors." Clients included a broad coalition of writers, artists and health educators with a diverse Web presence.

Patricia Nell Warren, one of the ACLU's plaintiffs on the case, blogs about how enforcement of the COPA laws will personally affect her:
"If the law is found enforceable...My body of work, which I have spent 35 years creating and publishing, could disappear in the blink of an eye."

The ACLU represents a broad coalition of writers, artists and health educators. They contend that the government's attempt to limit the Internet to G-rated content effectively suppresses a great deal of speech that adults are entitled to communicate and receive. They also argue that because COPA's penalties include jail time, many people will self-censor rather than risk violating the law's vague prohibition on "harmful to minors" material.

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