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Utah House Bill 260: Blacklisting Harmful to Minors Websites

Utah House Bill 260 requires, among other provisions, that the Attorney General's office create and maintain an "Adult Content Registry" of all Internet content believed to contain material that is harmful to minors. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) would have to block access to those sites by blocking their IP addresses or providing filtering software at consumers' request. If a content provider opts out of the Adult Content Registry or fails to determine the proper age of a minor visiting its unrated website, it would be considered to have distributed material harmful to minors.

History: On March 15, Media Coalition sent a veto request to Governor Huntsman asking that he veto the bill because it violates the First Amendment rights of adults, severely chills online speech, may violate the Commerce Clause, is suspiciously similar to prior restraint, and does not include due process safeguards in the determination of the harmfulness of the material in question.

Court Challenge: Governor Huntsman signed H.B. 260 into law in late March, and Media Coalition members joined local bookstores, the ACLU of Oregon, and others in a legal challenge to the new law. For more information about that challenge, Florence v. Shurtleff (originally The King's English v. Shurtleff), see Media Coalition's case page.

updated 3/14/05