States Are a Hotbed of Internet Censorship Activity: Professor
Internet censorship "is now a four-season sport in state legislatures," with few state lawmakers of either party being against it, wrote Eric Goldman, co-director of Santa Clara University's High Tech Law Institute, in a blog post Sunday. Many efforts revolve around requiring publishers to authenticate the ages of all readers, whether they're minors or not, and to restrict minors’ access to online content or resources, Goldman said.
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Many legal challenges to such state laws are heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the regulations won't be coolly received there, Goldman said. "I don’t believe the Supreme Court is likely to save us from our own censorial legislators," he said. "Due to the scarcity of anti-censorship legislators, the modern Internet is cooked."