Campaigners make last ditch attempt to stop porn laws

Online media companies and civil liberties groups will make a last-ditch attempt to block the US government's Child Online Protection Act tomorrow.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Privacy information Centre and Electronic Frontier Foundation are leading the fight to stop the act coming into effect on Friday. They say the bill - which prohibits Web sites from giving minors access to 'harmful' material - is unconstitutional.

Under the law, any Web site operator who fails to check the identification and age of users can be fined up to $50,000, or face up to six months in prison, each time an underage child gains access to adult material.

Media companies including the CBS New Media, The New York Times, Sony Online and ZDNet are backing the move. The free speech advocates hope the federal court will grant a temporary restraining order to give them extra time to prepare their case.

The US government suffered an embarrassment in June when the Supreme Court overturned a similar provision in the Communications Decency Act that made it illegal to transmit or display indecent material on the Internet that could be obtained by underage children.

The Supreme Court ruled that Web publishers could not prevent minors gaining access to sites.