underage library patrons from obscene material

Internet access at the San Juan Island Library will soon look a little different. In compliance with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the Children's Internet Protection Act, website filtering software will be installed on all library computers that have access to the Internet.

The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), signed into law in December 2000, requires any public library that receives Federal grant funds for computers or Internet access to equip all computers with software designed to block materials deemed harmful to minors or otherwise obscene. The law, however, was overturned by a Federal District Court after a challenge because filtering technology is imprecise, often blocking important and legitimate information. The three-judge panel felt that the law violated the First Amendment rights of library users, preventing access to constitutionally protected information. In June 2004, the United States Supreme Court overturned the District Court ruling, declaring the Act to be lawful because of a provision that the required "technology protection measure (TPM), or specific technology that blocks or filters Internet access to visual depictions," could easily be disabled upon request by persons 17 and over.

San Juan Island Library's trustees have decided to install TPMs on all computers, in compliance with the court's decision. The San Juan Island Library has had a filtering program on the children's computer for several years. In order for the library to be in legal compliance with CIPA, the programs will be installed on every computer in the building that has Internet access by July 1, 2004 .

At the San Juan Island Library, the default setting will be for filtered access, since this is mandated in the law, but adults will easily be able to turn the filtering off. Adults (for the purposes of CIPA, this means 17 years of age and older) will have the option of typing their library card number into the computer, certifying eligibility for unfiltered access. The library will issue new library cards to all patrons under 17 in order to facilitate this.

If a minor wishes to access a website that has been blocked by the filtering software, a staff member can evaluate the site to see if it fits the legal definition of "obscene" or "harmful to minors." If it does not appear harmful, the site can be unblocked manually for that patron, and also added to a "whitelist" of sites that should be permanently allowed even though the software would otherwise block it.

"It is important to realize," said library director Lauren Stara, "that website filtering does not guarantee that objectionable sites will always be blocked, because filtering technology is not foolproof. Traditionally, public libraries are champions of free and equal access to information for everyone, and the idea of restricting access is abhorrent to many. At the same time, pornography on the Internet - unwanted, unsolicited pornography - has become more and more of a problem. CIPA, and the San Juan Island Library's implementation of website filters in compliance with it, is the best tool the library has to protect minor children from these sites."

Some sites that may be of interest include:

Public Libraries and the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA): Legal Sources

http://www.llrx.com/features/cipabiblio.htm

Federal District Court Overturns CIPA

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnewssarchive/2002/june20021/federaldistrict.htm

United States Supreme Court Decision

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-361.Znews.html

American Library Association's CIPA Page

http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/civilliberties/washcipa/Default2368.htm