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12 Seton Hall Const. L.J. 163 (2001-2002)
Dissemination of Harmful Matter to Minors over the Internet

handle is hein.journals/shclj12 and id is 171 raw text is: HARMFUL M TTER OVER THE INTERNET DISSEMINATION OF HARMFUL MATTER TO MINORS OVER THE INTERNET Alex C. McDonald* I. INTRODUCTION A perceived danger of the Internet is that predatory adults will expose minors to matter deemed harmful to them.' In response to this perceived danger, Con- gress enacted the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (the CDA)2 and later the Child Online Protection Act (the COPA),3 and the legislatures in several states, including California,4 New York,5 New Mexico,6 Michigan7 and Vir- ginia,8 enacted penal statutes, all of which criminalized the dissemination of * Associate Justice, California Court of Appeal, District Four, Division One. B.S. 1958 Stanford University, L.L.B. 1961 University of California School of Law (Boalt Hall), L.L.M. 2001 University of Virginia School of Law. An earlier version of this paper was submitted to the University of Virginia School of Law as an L.L.M. thesis. I acknowledge and thank my research attorney Stephen Joplin, my judicial assistant Joan Mara, and my thesis advisor Pro- fessor Robert M. O'Neill of the University of Virginia School of Law and The Thomas Jeffer- son Center for the Protection of Free Expression for invaluable help and encouragement in the preparation of this paper. Madeleine Mercedes Plasencia, Internet Sexual Predators: Protecting Children in the Global Community, 4 J. GENDER RACE & JUST. 15 (2000) (expressing Professor Plasencia's concerns that the Internet accelerates the developmental stages of pedophilia). 2 Communications Decency Act, Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 133 (1996). 3 Child Online Protection Act, Pub. L. No. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2681-736 (1998). 4 CAL. PENAL CODE § 288.2(b) (West 1999). 5 N.Y. PENAL LAW §§ 235.21, 235.22 (McKinney 2000). 6 N.M. STAT. ANN. § 30-37-3.2 (Michie Supp. 2001). 7 MICH. COMP. LAWS ANN. § 722.675 (West Supp. 2001). 2001