In a move certain to raise the eyebrows of the reactionary right and warm the hearts of first-amendment lovers, the US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has again struck down the COPA (Child Online Protection Act), an overly-broad act aimed at putting in prison people who don't cordon off "inappropriate" material from prying eyes. A number of problems have been cited in the past, but most come around the 1st amendment, and people's ability to publish and access information without restriction.

The US Supreme Court sent the case back to the 3rd Circuit last year because they felt that the original ruling was not sufficiently developed. In order to counter this, the 3rd Circuit issued a much more specific decision this time, citing not only publication rights issues, but also anonymous access issues.

Some of the wording, which you can find in this article from CNet was tailored specifically at the possible fear caused by registration systems and the concern some users would have that their reading habits are being monitored by business or government groups.