Cite as: 535 U. S. 564 (2002)
Stevens, J., dissenting
ment in part and dissenting in part). Moreover, amici for respondents describe studies showing substantial variation among communities in their attitudes toward works involving homosexuality, masturbation, and nudity.7
Even if most, if not all, of these works would be excluded from COPA's coverage by the serious value prong, they illustrate the diversity of public opinion on the underlying themes depicted. This diversity of views surely extends to whether materials with the same themes, that do not have serious value for minors, appeal to their prurient interests and are patently offensive. There is no reason to think the differences between communities' standards will disappear once the image or description is no longer within the context of a work that has serious value for minors.8 Because communities differ widely in their attitudes toward sex, particularly when minors are concerned, the Court of Appeals was correct to conclude that, regardless of how COPA's other provisions are construed, applying community standards to the Internet will restrict a substantial amount of protected speech that would not be considered harmful to minors in many communities.
Whether that consequence is appropriate depends, of course, on the content of the message. The kind of hard-core pornography involved in Hamling, which I assume would be obscene under any community's standard, does not belong on the Internet. Perhaps "teasers" that serve no function except to invite viewers to examine hardcore materials, or the hidden terms written into a Web site's "meta-tags" in order to dupe unwitting Web surfers into visiting pornographic sites, deserve the same fate. But COPA ex-7 Brief for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts et al. as Amici Curiae 4-10 (describing findings of the People for the American Way Foundation Annual Freedom to Learn Reports).
8 Nor is there any reason to expect that a particular community's view of the material will change based on how the Court of Appeals construes the statute's "for commercial purposes" or "as a whole" provisions.
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