“A coalition of booksellers and Internet content providers on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging an expansion of Massachusetts‘ obscenity law to include electronic communications that may be harmful to minors,” according to this report from the Associated Press.

The new law, which went into effect Monday, was an attempt to close a loophole in the existing law that did not cover electronic communications. It was passed in response to the Supreme Judicial Court‘s overturning of the conviction of a man accused of sending obscene instant messages to someone he believed to be a 13 year-old girl.

“The new law, passed quickly by the state Legislature after the ruling, added instant messages, text messages, e-mail and other electronic communications to the old law,” reports the AP.

The lawsuit contends that this new law is too broad and, the changes create “‘a broad censorship law that imposes severe content-based restrictions'” on the dissemination of constitutionally protected speech,” according to the AP.

The report continues:

The plaintiffs include the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the Association of American Publishers, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and other groups. They argue that the expanded law effectively bans from the Internet anything that may be considered “harmful to minors,” including material adults have a First Amendment right to view, including information about contraception, pregnancy, sexual health, literature and art.

“For most communications over the Internet, it is not possible for a person sending or posting the communication to ensure that the communication will not be read or seen by a minor,” the lawsuit states.

The law is written in such a way that it encompasses “all Internet communications” such as postings on websites and through listservs, which might be read or seen by a minor – and not merely those communications directed to a specific minor.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley‘s spokesperson has said that the law is being reviewed.