Most recent news: On July 31, members of Media Coalition, local booksellers and artists, and the ACLU of Alaska filed suit to block an Alaska law that bans constitutionally protected speech on the Internet if that speech can be deemed "harmful to minors." The law, signed by Governor Parnell in May and effective July 1, exposes anyone who manages a webpage or operates a listserv to criminal prosecution if nudity or sexually related material is posted in such venues, in effect banning from the Internet anything that may be harmful to minors, including material adults have a First Amendment right to view. In addition, a bookseller, video retailer, or librarian can be prosecuted if he or she unknowingly sells or loans a book, video, or magazine containing nudity or sexual content - whether online or in a brick and mortar store. Violators of the law's provisions can be sentenced to up to two years in prison, must register as sex offenders, and could be forced to forfeit their business.

Read the Press Release

Read the Plaintiffs' Complaint

Plaintiffs in the suit are the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Alaska Library Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, the Association of American Publishers, Bosco's Inc., the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Don Douglas Photography, the Entertainment Merchants Association, Fireside Books, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and Title Wave Books.

Most Recent News: Plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction supported by nine declarations - one from each plaintiff and one from an Internet expert - and a supporting brief on July 27. The state's brief in opposition is due by August 26. Plaintiffs will file a reply to that brief on or before September 9.

On July 13, members of Media Coalition joined local booksellers, the Massachusetts ACLU, and others in filing suit in U.S. District Court to block a Massachusetts law that criminalizes "harmful to minors" speech on the Internet, as well as speech transmitted via mobile phones and other electronic devices. The law expands the state's "harmful to minors" law to encompass not just traditional media but any sort of communication transmitted electronically and expands the definition of "visual material" deemed harmful to minors to include data stored on phones and other similar devices. Significantly, Massachusetts' law applies to both visual depiction of sexual acts and descriptions found in books, pamphlets, newspapers, and other traditional media. It thus criminalizes electronic speech on topics including literature and art, contraception and pregnancy, and sexual helath - including material adults have a constitutional right to view.

Read the Press Release

Read the Plaintiffs' Complaint

Most recent news: On June 8, 2010, oral argument in Powell's v. Kroger was heard by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals - Judge Paez, Judge McKeown, and Judge Fernandez - sitting in Portland, OR.  This case concerns a law that does not use the Miller/Ginsberg definition of "harmful to minors," instead prohibiting distribution of sexually explicit materials to minors under 13 under any circumstances and to older minors under 18 for the purpose of arousing or satisfying sexual desires. 

Listen to an audio recording of the proceedings at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' website