Volume 3: Issue 3
Killing the Messenger: Pennsylvania's New Child Pornography Statute is Aimed at the Wrong Parties
The “network of networks” that is the Internet has proven an incredibly powerful medium for the organization and dissemination of vast amounts of information in a wide variety of formats. For many users, the Internet is library, theatre, mall, newspaper, and workplace all rolled into one. As the Supreme Court has recognized, “[i]t is no exaggeration to conclude that the content on the Internet is as diverse as human thought.”1 The dark side of this diversity is the use of the Internet to disseminate harmful and illegal material, such as child pornography. On February 21, 2002, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted a new section 7330 of the state criminal code, which requires an Internet service provider (“ISP”), upon five days’ notice, to remove or disable access to content determined by the state officials to constitute “child pornography items.”