ACLU Sues To Block Utah Law Restricting Internet ContentACLU Sues To Block Utah Law Restricting Internet Content

The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday asked a federal court to rule as unconstitutional a Utah child-protection law that would require Internet service providers to block websites that contain content deemed unsuitable for children.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the new law on behalf of plaintiffs that included Utah bookstores, artists, website publishers, ISPs and national trade groups. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

The law would require the Utah attorney general to create a public registry of Internet sites that contain "material harmful to minors." The registry would include sites found anywhere on the web.

Internet content providers would be required to evaluate their material and submit it to the registry, if necessary, or face criminal charges. For ISPs, the law would require them to block registered sites at the request of parents.

The lawsuit claims Utah lawmakers have violated the constitutional rights of free speech and interstate commerce.

Free speech is violated because content providers would have their material blocked without being given the opportunity to challenge the action, plaintiffs' attorneys said. In addition, because of the limitations of Internet technology, blocking one website could also block hundreds of other of innocent sites that happen to have the same Internet protocol address.

"Maybe one could imagine technology solving these problems, but given the current structure of the Internet, frankly, I'm skeptical of that," John B. Morris Jr. of the Center of Democracy and Technology said in a news conference held by attorneys and supporters after the filing of the lawsuit.

The rights of businesses to operate across state lines are violated because the state law would apply to companies outside of Utah. Allowing individual states to regulate Internet businesses would lead to an impractical regulatory environment.

"This type of state regulation ... constitutes a violation of the commerce laws, given the fact that the Internet really is a fully integrated, international system," said Michael Bamberger, an attorney for Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal LLP and a co-counsel in the case.

The attorney general's office declined comment, saying it was reviewing the lawsuit and planned to meet with the ACLU and plaintiffs' attorneys.

Betsy Burton, owner of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City and lead plaintiff in the suit, said the law would severely limit her in using descriptions and jacket art to advertise books for adults.

"Unless I limit the website to children's books or attempt to exclude children from our website, I risk the danger of a criminal charge," Burton said in a statement. "Both of these alternatives are incompatible with the nature of a general community bookstore."

Plaintiffs' attorneys were confident that the federal court would strike down the Utah law, given the fact that judges have already ruled against similar legislation passed in Arizona, Michigan, New York, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

"No such law, which has been challenged, has withstood the challenge," Bamberger said.