US court dumps Net porn law over free speech

A closely divided US Supreme Court on Tuesday barred enforcement of a federal law designed to keep Net pornography away from children because it violates constitutional free speech rights.

The 5-4 ruling does not resolve the constitutional question in a case pitting free speech against efforts by the Congress to protect minors from online pornography. The ruling sent the case back to a federal judge in Philadelphia for a trial to consider changes in technology and law since the 1998 adoption of the Child Online Protection Act.

The law requires that website operators use credit cards or adult access codes and personal identification numbers to keep minors from accessing harmful pornography. Violators face up to six months in prison and fines of as much as $50,000 a day. Justice Anthony Kennedy upheld an injunction that has blocked the US Justice Department from enforcing the law and from bringing any criminal cases. —(Reuters)