The U.S. Federal Court just ruled that a 1998 law created to protect children from viewing pornography web sites was too restrictive and violated free speech rights. Much of the court’s decision behind the ruling suggested that other means, especially software filters, could block inappropriate materials just as well without potentially violating the First Amendment. So what other means are there? And how well do filters really work?

The quick answer is that filters are better than nothing, still not good enough, and still require a certain amount of expertise and ongoing commitment on the part of parents. Like condoms, it doesn’t matter how good the technology is; it matters whether or not they get used. There’s still a great deal of trepidation on a parent’s part before they’re ready to install filtering software or even take advantage of filtering built into the tools of their service providers. The increase in home networks doesn’t make this any easier, since many filtering packages were originally delivered for a single PC.

By overturning COPA, which would have imposed a fine or penalty for companies that allowed minors access to materials deemed “harmful to minors” by “contemporary community standards,” the courts have freed themselves from a lot of messy and expensive litigation. They’ve probably even strengthened the First Amendment. But they sure haven’t made parents’ jobs easier.

They’ve left parents few alternatives. Here are a few suggestions I’ve been carping about for a long time. In light of COPA I’m re-opening the discussion and I hope you will, too.

• A Graduated Internet Driver’s License Program: You need to be a certain age to drink or to drive, so why not to use the Internet? School children would be required to complete certain tasks and prove themselves safe Internet citizens. Many states now have graduated driver’s licenses where privileges such as driving at night or with a car full of friends are extended only after you’ve proved yourself responsible. A great model for the Internet, where privilege to surf freely should be cultivated gradually.
• Create a .XXX Domain. Consenting adults should be able to access adult material. Parents who want their kids to steer clear of pornography should be able to make that happen easily. The best way to do this is to have the “porn sites” (for the most part, with a few gray areas, they know who they are) self-identify and give themselves a .XXX domain name. Kids could be blocked from a single adult area of the web instead of this labor and time intensive site-by-site approach.
• A Safe Internet Squad: A Geek Squad-type of organization (non-profit) that would–for a very small fee–go to people’s homes and safeguard their computer. You shouldn’t have to pay $100 per hour to keep your child safe on the web. A not-for-profit funded by a combination of government and private funds with a small fee per family (it’s been proven that small fees make people use things more!) could work.

Any other ideas?