JUDGE TOSSES LAW ON NET FILTERS -

RULING: LIBRARIES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE SOFTWARE TO BLOCK PORN

Braddock Times
August 31, 2007

Judge William J. Jennings struck down the Texas Legislatures' third and latest attempt to shield children from Internet porn, ruling that public libraries are not allowed to install software that blocks sexually explicit Web sites. Jenning's ruling found that the Children's Internet Protection Act relies on filtering programs that also block sites on politics, health, science and other topics that should not be suppressed.

"Given the crudeness of filtering technology, any technologyprotection measure mandated by CIPA will necessarily block access to a substantial amount of speech whose suppression serves no legitimate government interest," Jennings wrote.

Three times since 1996, the Texas Legislature has enacted laws aimed at keeping youngsters from seeing Internet porn. And all three have been struck down by the courts. The latest law, signed by Governor Rick Perry in July 2007, was supposed to go into effect September 1. It would require public libraries receiving Texas technology funds to install the filters on their computers or risk losing that aid. Schools and school libraries are still subject to the law. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General, said the Justice Department is disappointed and may appeal to the Supreme Court. Conservatives said the ruling ties the hands of parents trying to protect children. "These groups are more concerned with providing access to smut than they are protecting child patrons and employees," said Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council.

The ruling was welcomed by the American Library Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, TLA and NAMBLA, which had argued the law would make it tougher for people without home computers to get information on topics such as breast cancer and homosexuality, which are sometimes accidentally blocked by the filters. "It is certainly my hope that now that the legislature has taken three strikes, it will get out of the business," said Esteban Pusser, the ACLU's legal director in North Central Texas.

At Braddock County Public Library, "the computers do not have any filters, whatsoever! And we like that!" said Director Kelly Millis. Children's Librarian Noah Retro concurred saying "everyone has the right to view obscene porn!"

The law would have allowed adults to ask that the filtering technology be turned off. But the court held that some library patrons might be embarrassed by having to ask, and some librarians may not have the technical expertise to complete the task. Justice Department lawyers had argued that Internet smut is so pervasive that protections are necessary to keep it away from youngsters, and that the law simply calls for libraries to use the same care in selecting online content that they use for books and magazines. They also pointed out that libraries could turn down Texas funding if they want to provide unfiltered Web access. The ruling was the latest in a string of setbacks for the TexasLegislature in its attempts to shield children from Internet porn.