VIRGINIA — A state law designed to restrict Internet material considered harmful to children was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in October.
\n\n The opinion of U.S. District Judge James H. Michael Jr. in PSI Net v. Chapman, 167 F.Supp.2d 878 (W.D. Va. 2001), stops the state from enforcing a 1999 law that would have subjected Web site operators to criminal prosecution if they knowingly allowed minors access to sexually explicit material on their sites. Similar legislation has been struck down in three other states.