A 22-year-old law student filed a lawsuit on Thursday asking a federal court in Boston to let him crack the digital lock on software that filters Internet Web sites so that he and others can view blocked sites, some of which he says are useful to the public. The suit, filed by the New York-based American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Ben Edelman, challenges the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. The law prohibits creation or distribution of tools that can be used to unlock digital copyright protections.

Edelman, who will enter Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the fall and is a technology analyst at The Berkman Center for Internet & Society there, claims the filtering software is flawed and blocks legitimate Web sites rather than just the pornographic sites it purports to target. "The core reason filtering software is of concern at the moment is because it is being forced upon a substantial number of Americans as they attempt to use the Internet in their local public libraries, public schools, businesses and even in their homes," Edelman told Reuters.