Book People, Inc. v. Wong
The U.S. District Court issued an injunction on a Texas law that would require publishers and booksellers to assign ratings to certain books, which would they then be barred from selling to school libraries.
Category: harmful to minors
Fayetteville Public Library v. Crawford County, Arkansas
The U.S. District Court granted a preliminary injunction blocking a law that would require booksellers and librarians to limit their books appropriate to all minors only or exclude all minors from their premises. Another provision on the law allows any person in Arkansas to demand the removal of a book that the person deems inappropriate.
In Re: A Court of Mist and Fury, In Re: Gender Queer
A Virginia judge dismissed the obscenity case against the books A Court of Mist and Fury and Gender Queer, finding that the law was unconstitutional as prior restraint, that it had insufficient knowledge requirement, and there was insufficient notice.
Missouri State Conference of NAACP v. Wentzville School District
Some members of Media Coalition filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, in support of an ACLU and NAACP challenge to the removal of books from school libraries in the Wentzville School District. The brief argued that the books did not fit the definition of “harmful to minors.”
Tennessee House Bill 2294
H.B. 2294 would require internet service providers to block access to “pornographic” material for all users. A failure to do so shall be treated as a deceptive or unfair act or practice and is subject to penalties under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act.
Missouri Senate Bill 733
S.B. 733 would require internet service providers to block their customers’ access to depictions — and possibly descriptions — of nudity and sexual activity.
Florida House Bill 855 and Senate Bill 1454
H.B. 855 and S.B. 1454 would make several changes to the definition of harmful to minors and to the definition of child pornography.
Utah Senate Bill 185
S.B.185 would provide a cause of action to sue for a person to sue anyone who produces or distributes material harmful to minors if, at the time the material was produced the person was a minor; and the material was the proximate cause for the person being harmed physically or psychologically, or by emotional or medical illnesses.
South Carolina House Bill 3003
The bill requires that all devices that allow access to the internet must come with an “active and operating digital blocking capability” that make obscene material “inaccessible.”
Oklahoma House Bill 1472
The bill requires blocking of obscene material. It was amended to make filtering for obscenity opt in. Must still block “revenge porn” and sites that facilitate prostitution and human trafficking.
Press Release: Louisiana’s Online Age-Verification Law Is Enjoined for Violating the First Amendment
Booksellers and publishers secured a preliminary injunction against a new Louisiana law that requires websites to age-verify every Internet user before providing access to non-obscene material that could be deemed harmful to any minor.
Press Release: Federal Court blocks Louisiana’s Online Age-Verification Law for Violating First Amendment
On Friday, October 7, 2016 Chief Judge Brian A. Jackson of federal district court signed an order permanently preventing Louisiana from enforcing a 2015 Louisiana law that required websites to age-verify every Internet user before providing access to non-obscene material that could be deemed harmful to any minor.
Garden District Book Shop v. Stewart
Media Coalition brought a lawsuit on behalf of some of its members and Louisiana booksellers and publishers challenging a law that required websites to age-verify every internet user before providing access to material that could be deemed “harmful to minors.”
Iowa Senate File 2039
Iowa S.F. 2039 would apply the state’s “obscene for minors” law to “electronic communication devices.”
Maryland House Bill 30
Maryland H.B. 30 would bar the display of material if its cover or content is “harmful to minors.”
Press Release: First Amendment Lawsuit Challenges Louisiana’s Online Age-Verification Law
Booksellers and publishers filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Louisiana law that requires websites to age-verify every Internet user before providing access to non-obscene material that could be deemed harmful to any minor.
Rhode Island Senate Bill 2156
Rhode Island S.B. 2156 would make it illegal to sell or rent a video game rated M to anyone under 17 years old or a video game rated AO to anyone under 18. It would also make it illegal to sell or rent a “sexually explicit” or “violent” video game to a minor.
New York Senate Bill 5226
New York S.B. 5226 would criminalize the dissemination of “harmful to minors” material to a minor online. It is identical to a New York law that was struck down in the 1997 Media Coalition case American Library Association v. Pataki.
Mississippi House Bill 195
Mississippi H.B. 195 would criminalize the intentional or knowing dissemination to anyone under 16 years old of material “harmful to minors.” Nothing in the bill or existing state law defines “harmful to minors.”
Alaska House Bill 298
Alaska H.B. 298 would bar any distribution of “indecent material” to a minor or someone the person believes is a minor. The existing state law’s definition of “indecent material” goes beyond the Miller/Ginsberg test. It is a companion bill to S.B. 222.
Iowa Senate File 410
Iowa S.F. 410 would require public libraries to bar minors from renting material that has been rated R, NC-17 or a comparable rating by the MPAA and the ESRB.
Hawaii Senate Bill 1234
Hawaii S.B. 1234 would criminalize the dissemination of “harmful to minors” material to an adult, if the adult represented him or herself to be a minor. The state’s existing “harmful to minors” law does not follow the Miller/Ginsberg test. It is companion to H.B. 1007.
Hawaii House Bill 1007
Hawaii H.B. 1007 would criminalize the dissemination of “harmful to minors” material to an adult, if the adult represented him or herself to be a minor. The state’s existing “harmful to minors” law does not follow the Miller/Ginsberg test. It is companion to S.B. 1234.
Florida House Bill 75
Florida H.B. 75 would bar the distribution or transmission by a minor of any image that contains nudity and is “harmful to minors” by electronic means, including the internet.
Arkansas Senate Bills 668 and 741
Arkansas S.B. 668 and 741 would apply the state’s “harmful to minors” law to the Internet.
