We have no chance of censoring the Internet

US LAWMAKERS should stop wasting court time by drafting vote-winning bills that will attempt to censor the Internet.

Senior US District Judge Lowell Reed said that it didn't matter if the bills were saving children from porn perils, or the world from terrorists, if they resulted in web censorship it was pretty likely they were unconstitutional.

Reed blocked enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act which is the second go that lawmakers have made to stop online pornography at the source. He said that the 1998 law was unconstitutionally vague and said it could have a chilling effect on Web publishers.

He implied that North American minors would suffer more if First Amendment protections were taken away from them than any amount of porn they see on the net.

Reed added that law fails to address threats that have emerged since the law was written, including online predators on social-networking sites, because it targeted commercial Web publishers.

He said that even the worst performing software filters were more effective than the law would be at protecting children from sexually explicit material on the Web.

Reed added that there was no evidence of any accurate way to verify the age of Internet users which the law demanded.

According to Associated Press, US pundits are now saying that it is incredibly unlikely that any lawmakers will be able to draft a law that does not wallop the US's right to free speech.