Ken Paulson: New Arizona law filters out First Amendment freedoms

  A new state law in Arizona threatens to withhold 10% of funding from public schools and libraries if they don’t block “harmful” content on the Internet. The law, which goes into effect Aug. 1, requires that minors be blocked from accessing “visual depictions that are child pornography, harmful to minors or obscene.”

  According to The Arizona Republic, Rep. Steve Court, who sponsored the bill, says it’s intended to refine existing law.

  “It just makes it a little more clear and a little more stringent,” Court told the newspaper.

  Not exactly more clear. Like other efforts at legislating Internet access, this statute is muddled and shows no understanding of the difference between obscenity, which is not protected by the First Amendment, and adult-oriented material, which is.