Can new obscenity law protect children from porn?

COLUMBUS — A state law designed to protect children from pornography and predators on the Internet is too vague for the average citizen to know what is prohibited and what is permitted, according to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

But Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray believes otherwise.

The two sides will argue their case before the seven-member Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The law makes it a crime to directly send obscene or harmful material to a juvenile via electronic means, including the Internet. Cordray lumps email, individual messaging and private chat rooms as electronic means. The law also has a provision that lets people off the hook if they didn’t know the recipient was a juvenile or they had no way of preventing a juvenile from seeing it.

The American Booksellers Foundation sued, contending that the law is unconstitutional and overly broad. In 2007, a federal court granted an injunction that bars authorities from trying to enforce the law. Then the U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals asked the state supreme court to review the statute and Cordray’s interpretation of it.