The Supreme Court has refused to consider an appeal to court decision to strike down the 1998 Childrens Online Protection Act (COPA). COPA was intended to protect children from unsuitable content on the Internet, but the court found that it "would violate the First Amendment, because filtering technologies and other parental control tools are a less restrictive way to protect children from inappropriate content online," according to the article. Some of the problems arise when legislators pass legislation intended for quick fixes to complex problems without understanding the technology issues or the costs and problems in enforcing the act. The key words in the finding are that there are already "less restrictive" ways of protecting children. These are important questions that need to be addressed through extended dialog with school personnel and parents instead of avenues to get votes with regard for neither the consequences nor the Constitution.
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