Score One for the Good Guys

“I love it when a plan comes together” – Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith

The classic line by the Colonel was at the top of our minds when we saw the Maine Joint Judiciary Committee vote unanimously to repeal the Maine Predatory Marketing Act last week. 

The law was the number one offender on NetChoice’s iAwful list and widely seen as a threat to free speech and online information.  The iAwful list ranks the top state and federal laws that are a threat to online speech and Internet commerce.

While the Act had the best of intentions (helping to keep minors safe online) it was written in such a way that both the state’s Attorney General and the U.S. District Court of Maine publically warned of its first amendment crushing potential.

Steve DelBianco of NetChoice travelled to Maine to testify before an emergency hearing called by House and Senate leadership following the District Court’s warning on the law’s constitutionality.  In his testimony, DelBianco provided legislators with concrete, real world examples of how the act would unleash a torrent of litigation and block teen’s access to important online health and educational information.

The committee’s decision to repeal the act is a great example of citizen advocacy in action.  Congratulations to our partners at NetChoice and the people of Maine for proactively defending their rights.  

Now, on to our next iAwful targets!

By:  David Mack

Comments

[Deniz]

I would be concerned about Security for White House tgonhcloey. This is the hub of power in the universe, as awesome and as dramatic as it sounds. Stuff that might be real easy to implement in any other private company, npo, or institution will be lots more complicated here.I get a headache just thinking about it! Whenever there is talk of terrorist threats the main concern is a sophisticated form of cyber terrorism, it's just as scary a sceneario as bio-warfare. To think that some seemingly benign program, meant to make matters easier and better organized for the White House, might somehow be a perfect tool for inviting in the wrong kind of hacker. Maybe that is one of the reasons the tgonhcloey is not up-to-date. Trying to figure out how to keep everything safe.

[Retta Ammons]

The committee’s decision to repeal the act is a great example of citizen advocacy in action.