Public libraries in the United States have until July 1, 2004 to put anti-porn filtering software into their computers or lose federal funds for technology, the Federal Communications Commission announced this week. They said the long court battle over the issue made it appropriate to give the libraries that much time to comply.
The Children's Internet Protection Act mandates the filters in exchange for federal funds. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the law doesn't violate the First Amendment, but a number of libraries in a few states have since said they're rather give up the federal funds than put in programs they think are badly enough flawed that they block "legitimate" Websites as much as, if not more than, porn and other "objectionable" sites.
The high court overturned a federal appeals court in Philadelphia which held that the CIPA, enacted in 2000, violated free speech because filtering programs still tend too often to block Websites like news and general information sites in hand with blocking porn sites.
The appeals court also feared library visitors might lose their privacy rights, since the CIPA provisions include one that requires they ask permission for the filters to be turned off. But the Supreme Court held that protecting children from sexually inappropriate material overrode adult library patrons' rights.
