HIGH COURT WILL CONSIDER ONLINE PORN LAW

The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear a case brought by civil liberties groups that challenges a new law aimed at curbing children's access to online pornography.  One bid by Congress to shield kids from Internet pornography has already been struck down by the court.  In 1997, the court said, in addition to protecting kids, that law would have prevented adults from viewing the material.  Congress rejigged the law a year later, and passed it again with fewer restrictions.  Even so, civil liberties groups challenged it on the same First Amendment grounds the high court found persuasive before.  The new law makes it a crime for commercial operations to knowingly place objectionable material within the unrestricted reach of children on the Web.

(Washington)