Court Voids Library Policy on Web Filters
A U.S. District Court on Monday struck down a Virginia county’s library policy requiring filtering software to block pornography on all its computers connected to the Internet.
Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that the Loudoun County policy violated the 1st Amendment because the software also blocked adults from using library computers to access a wide array of mainstream, constitutionally protected materials.
A group of adults in the county filed the lawsuit late last year, joined by People for the American Way and the American Civil Liberties Union, after the Loudoun County Library Board adopted the filtering policy in October 1997.
Filtering programs prevent Internet users from accessing certain World Wide Web sites, usually based on the address or content of the site. In the Loudoun case, the filtering software was found to block access to pages about the Quaker religion, sex education and even a site dealing with Beanie Babies.
The decision comes as the ACLU and other groups have begun a lawsuit in Philadelphia challenging a new national law aimed at limiting pornography on the Internet. A district court there temporarily suspended the new law, which requires commercial Web sites to prevent children from viewing any material considered “harmful to minors.”
Last year, the Supreme Court struck down Congress’ first attempt to limit porn on the Net, the Communications Decency Act.
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