Elastic Wristband Maker Sues Walmart For... >>
<< Putting 'Game Pieces' Together Online To Win...
 tdicon 

Free Speech

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Oct 28th 2010 8:34am




Filed Under:
free speech, harmful to minors, massachusetts


Court Strikes Down Overly Broad Massachusetts 'Harmful To Minors' Law

from the free-speech-ftw dept

In another win for free speech rights over an overly aggressive gov't attempt to censor, a federal judge issued an injunction barring a Massacusetts law that tried to ban certain works from the internet for being "harmful to minors." The judge noted that since the law did not require that the works be "purposefully sent to a person the sender knew to be a minor," it went way too far. There have certainly been a lot of attempts by governments to legislate parts of the First Amendment away, and it's nice to see the courts still believe strongly in protecting at least that Amendment.

10 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    icon
    :Lobo Santo (profile), Oct 28th, 2010 @ 8:50am

    Protections

    ...I've been under the impression lately that courts only bring about "Justice" on accident/by mistake. Surely there is some other force at work which only coincidentally appears to be a judge rendering a judgment which agrees with the First Amendment.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), Oct 28th, 2010 @ 8:52am

    Re: Protections

    A black hole, maybe?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    icon
    :Lobo Santo (profile), Oct 28th, 2010 @ 9:06am

    Re: Re: Protections

    Yes, a black hole of missing cash.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), Oct 28th, 2010 @ 9:11am

    Re: Re: Re: Protections

    My bank account is influencing court decisions?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Revelati, Oct 28th, 2010 @ 10:21am

    I love how they are trying to use "harm to minors" to nullify the 1st amendment, the same way the feds used "interstate commerce" to nullify the 10th.

    Talk about child exploitation...

    Lets just scrap the constitution all together and replace it with the "Super freedom, terrorists are bad, save the children, patriot, we love Jesus, 9/11, eeeMerica! Git er' donestitution"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    icon
    Overcast (profile), Oct 28th, 2010 @ 11:30am

    Good politicians could get things done without infringing on Constitutional rights.

    And I guess that's why we have so many rights being infringed upon.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    icon
    Qritiqal (profile), Oct 28th, 2010 @ 12:11pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Protections

    Oh sadness!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    AW, Oct 28th, 2010 @ 12:22pm

    As a massachusetts resident..good riddance...now if we can get that "wiretapping" crap overturned.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 28th, 2010 @ 1:13pm

    Re:

    Obama from the White House:
    "What? To get it overused! yah it will be, don't worry"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    icon
    Christopher (profile), Oct 28th, 2010 @ 11:32pm

    Re:

    Good politicians realize that we don't need to worry about this, and a better way to 'protect children' would be to simply bring pedosexuality out into the open.

    The fact is that it is a TOTALLY NORMAL sexuality that is being used as a 'boogie man' in order to frighten families into thinking that their children are in 'danger' every second of every day.

    Yes, I know that children are 'snatched' by pedosexuals, but if you look at things, those are usually the pedosexuals who have TRIED to abide by the laws and end up going insane from lack of sexual gratification.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Elastic Wristband Maker Sues Walmart For... >>
<< Putting 'Game Pieces' Together Online To Win...
 tdicon 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Wednesday

8:03pm: Arizona Court Skeptical Of 'Medical Excuse' From Prenda Lawyers (9)
5:00pm: DailyDirt: Air Hockey Robots (3)
4:16pm: More Details Emerge As States' Attorneys General Seek To Hold Back Innovation On The Internet (22)
3:26pm: Supreme Court Says Patent Abuse Can Violate Antitrust Laws (7)
2:32pm: Microsoft Capitulates, Removes Online DRM From Xbox One (74)
1:31pm: The Next Time Someone Says Twitter Is Killing Deep Thinking With Short Quick Messages, Show Them This (37)
12:28pm: Company Claims Patent On Pop-Up Ads, Sues Porn & Travel Companies (26)
11:25am: FBI Admits To Using Drones To Spy On Americans (58)
10:26am: Hollywood's New Talking Point: Gatekeepers Are Awesome (34)
9:25am: New Orleans Cops Caught Filling Their Pockets With Red Light Camera Cash (16)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This