Libraries Will Add Internet Access--and Filters for Kids

Orange County supervisors agreed Tuesday to speed up the purchase of more computer terminals for the county’s 27 public libraries and to install Internet filters on machines reserved for children.

The filtering software would block access to pornographic, obscene, sexually explicit and violent Internet sites. County Librarian John Adams estimated that it will cost $150,000 for the additional terminals and filters, which would be for children’s use exclusively. The source of such funding is still being studied, officials said.

In the interim, the board ratified a policy effective July 1 for librarians to obtain written permission from parents for children to use the unfiltered library terminals, and to acknowledge the risks. Each branch already has an Internet terminal that is used by children and adults.

However, Adams warned that installing filtering software on new terminals earmarked for children won’t be foolproof. He said Net Nanny, the largest Internet filtering company, announced last week that it would begin blocking 5,000 sites that it discovered were promoting sex with children.

“The idea that by buying something, you can guarantee that nothing objectionable can be seen by children is very, very far from the truth,” Adams said.

Board members unanimously agreed that the filtering technology, though imperfect, is better than nothing.

Questions about the county library’s Internet terminals were raised by Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who asked for a legal opinion on what the county could do to block access to objectionable sites. County Counsel Laurence M. Watson responded that blocking access to Internet terminals for adults would violate the First Amendment.

Government has more flexibility in protecting children, Watson said. However, because county library terminals are used by adults and children, the county has few options in dealing with Internet use.

Other library systems in California have faced lawsuits when they have restricted access to adults as a way of also protecting children.

Los Angeles County’s 85-branch library system dealt with the question much like Orange County has--it requires parental permission for children using its unfiltered Internet terminals, said spokeswoman Nancy Mahr. Parents also are given a brochure on protecting children using the Internet.

As with Orange County, most of the Los Angeles County branches have terminals used by adults and children alike.

However, at the 68 city library branches in Los Angeles, children have unrestricted access to about 500 Internet terminals, spokeswoman Joan Bartel said. Obtaining parental permission from the 400,000 children who use the library would be a monumental administrative burden, she said.