Supreme Court Kills Internet pornography law by refusing to resurrect a federal law that requires web sites containing material harmful to minors to implement age-based access restrictions.

The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) has been the subject of court battles since Congress enacted it in 1998, and it has never taken effect. The Bush administration was a strong supporter of the law and the Justice Department led the fight in court to revive it.

The American Civil Liberties Union called it a clear victory for free speech, having fought the bill for ten years claiming it infringed on a website's freedom of speech.

COPA provides for up to six months in jail, in addition to civil penalties, for those found guilty of posting information online for commercial purposes that's considered harmful to minors.

According to the government's experts in the case, the law could criminalize as many as 700 million Web pages, they said.

The lawyers said the use of content filters would be more effective, there are a ton of Web filtering and parental control applications available, many for free such as Blue Coat's K9 Web Protection. It is the responsibility of parents to monitor their children's online activity.