On Tuesday, several independent Alaskan booksellers, including Fireside Books, Palmer, and Title Wave Books, Anchorage, joined a coalition of organizations and filed a lawsuit against Alaska Attorney General Daniel Sullivan (in photo at r., holding a copy of the U.S. Constitution) "to block a broad censorship law that bans constitutionally protected speech on the Internet. The law, Section 11.61.128 of the Alaska Statutes, which went into effect on July 1, imposes severe restrictions on the distribution of constitutionally protected speech on topics such as contraception and pregnancy, sexual health, literature, and art on the Internet and in book and video stores and libraries," Bookselling This Week reported.
According to Media Coalition, "the law could make anyone who operates a website or communicates through a listserv criminally liable for nudity or sexually related material, if the material can be considered 'harmful to minors' under the law’s definition. In effect, it bans from the Internet anything that may be 'harmful to minors,' including material adults have a First Amendment right to view."
"We carry 24,000 books and there is no way to know the contents of each one. If I make a mistake and sell the wrong book to a kid, I could be prosecuted," said David Cheezum, co-owner of Fireside Books.
The coalition of plaintiffs in the lawsuit also includes the Alaska Library Association, Bosco’s Inc., Don Douglas Photography and the Entertainment Merchants Association.