PENINSULA DAILY NEWS AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A panel of federal judges has struck down a law requiring public libraries to install Internet filters to block access to objectionable sites.
In a unanimous decision Friday, the three judges of a special panel said the Children’s Internet Protection Act is “invalid under the First Amendment” because it requires libraries to use technology that blocks access to legitimate sites on the Web, while still allowing access to some pornography sites.
The legislation known as CIPA, signed into law by President Clinton two years ago, required public libraries to use the electronic blocks, starting July 1 or lose millions of dollars in federal funding for computers and Internet access.
The law “requires (librarians) to violate the First Amendment rights of their patrons,” said Chief Judge Edward Becker of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Susan Skaggs, assistant director of public services for the North Olympic Library System in Clallam County, lauded the decision Saturday.
According to Skaggs, the law would have forced the agency to change its current filtering systems at libraries in Sequim, Port Angeles and on the West End.
“I can see wanting to protect children, not have them stumble across pornography when they were in the library,” Skaggs said. But “it’s very difficult for legislation from way out some place else to work in little individual communities.”
Port Townsend and Jefferson County libraries have opted not to filter Internet access.
“We just haven’t felt that it’s been a problem,” Port Townsend Library Director Linnea Patrick said Saturday.
“And (the filters) don’t work,” she said. “They filter out things that are legitimate research subjects, and they don’t filter out some of the material that they theoretically block.”
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The rest of this story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.