Public libraries statewide won't be compromising the First Amendment if they install Internet porn filtering software in their computers, said South Carolina's attorney general April 25.
"Public libraries have no obligation to provide computers or Internet service," wrote state Attorney General Charles Condon in a ten-page ruling. "Notwithstanding this fact, however, public libraries have the constitutional right to use filters to remove pornography… A public library is not an adult bookstore or pornographic peep show. The First Amendment does not prohibit public libraries from using Internet filters to protect minors from harmful, vulgar material."
State lawmaker Mike Fair, a Republican state Senator from Greenville, asked for the opinion. Fair has proposed a law mandating filtering software for public library computers. That bill was inspired by Greenville's public library refusing to put filtering into its computers. And there are parallel bills proposed that would also deny state funds to those libraries which don't put the filtering in.
If this bill survives to become state law, say published reports, it ends a legal protection state public libraries have had for nine years, when a state law banned minors' access to porn and gave parents the option of filing incident complaints with local prosecutors who would choose whether to push for a trial. But it won't affect school or university libraries.
