Virginia's public libraries that want state funding would be required to install filtering on library computers if two state lawmakers have their way.
State Rep. Samuel Nixon, Jr. (R-Chesterfield) has introduced such a bill in the state House of Representatives, a bill he told reporters is similar to one in the state Senate introduced by Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) and is needed to protect children from finding Internet porn by mistake when surfing at the library.
This would be the second time Nixon has tried to get such a bill passed in the lower house, an earlier version getting killed in committee last year. Nixon insisted the bill doesn't specify the filter programs to be used or try to define porn, but opponents have said mandatory filtering equals censorship and mandates imperfect programs that block "legitimate" Websites covering sensitive, sometimes sexually related topics.
Nixon announced his new bill at a January 10 press conference with the Family Foundation, who have pushed for mandatory library filtering and say about 40 percent of Virginia's libraries now filter on their own.
"This is not a novel concept," Family Foundation director Victoria Cobb said at the press conference. "This is a very real problem that has a simple solution." She spoke of a complaint from a parent whose child spotted porn on a library computer after the librarian rejected a request from the parent to force a man viewing the material to take it off screen.
Opposition includes Carolyn Caywood, American Library Association intellectual freedom round-table counselor as well as Bayside Area Library branch manager in Virginia Beach. "The whole technology approach," she told reporters, "requires computers to make subjective judgments that they're incapable of."
