"Adult Web sites that have largely enjoyed freedom from government interference could be in for an unpleasant surprise tomorrow," writes CNET's Declan McCullagh, "when the US Supreme Court is set to deliver a long-awaited ruling on Internet pornography. The court is expected to decide whether the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) violates Americans' right to free expression on the Internet. The 1998 law, which restricts sexually explicit material deemed 'harmful to minors' that appears on commercial Web sites, includes civil fines and prison terms in its provisions. COPA has been on hold during the court proceedings. 'If it's upheld, there will be a shock wave,' said Ann Beeson, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union who argued the case before the high court... Layne Winklebleck, an editor at the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult industry, says 'everything depends on what the court says.'
"So far, the Supreme Court has gutted the Communications Decency Act and the Child Pornography Prevention Act, Congress' two previous attempts to extend criminal laws to Internet pornography. The lack of government controls on Internet pornography has permitted the adult industry to blossom on the Web. A report from Reuters Business Insight in February 2003 calculated that sex-related business represented two-thirds of all online content revenue in 2001 and that it had ballooned to a US$2.5 billion industry since then...
"If COPA is upheld as constitutional, the effect on adult Web sites would vary, depending on the wording of the court's opinion... But the ACLU's Beeson warns that COPA's definition of 'harmful to minors' sweeps so broadly that non-pornographic sites dealing with gay and lesbian topics or sexual education could be in its scope. The ACLU is representing OBGYN.net, Philadelphia Gay News, Artnet, PlanetOut, the Internet Content Coalition, and Salon.com..."