Fueled by postings on the Slashdot Web site, 67 opponents of Inte...

Fueled by postings on the Slashdot Web site, 67 opponents of Internet filtering had filed mostly one-page comments on FCC’s proposed implementation of Child Internet Protection (CHIP) Act by end of last week. Comment deadline isn’t until 15 days after proposal’s publication in the Federal Register. Virtually all of comments opposed mandatory filtering, but offered few counterproposals for how FCC should implement law. Several said Commission had authority to delay implementation in light of expected constitutional challenges. “I had no idea there would be that much interest,” said Liza Kessler of Leslie Harris & Assoc., who started ball rolling with Slashdot posting (which, she hastened to add, was “solely in my personal interest” and not on behalf of firm). “I don’t know of any other grass-roots efforts,” she said. Kessler said idea that FCC could forestall implementation is “interesting argument” but she wasn’t sure whether it held legal water. She will be filing on behalf of educational groups, and she said she expected most heated questions to revolve around whether any existing software met CHIP’s standards.