ACLU White Paper Excerpt
News Item (cadieux@librarybook.com)
Wed, 1 Oct 1997 23:09:10 -0400
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 23:09:10 -0400
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19971001231229.007c34c0@librarybook.com>
From: News Item <cadieux@librarybook.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <conntech>
Subject: ACLU White Paper Excerpt
Below is a portion of the ACLU white paper
"Fahrenheit 451.2: Is Cyberspace Burning?"
Why Blocking Software Should Not Be Used by Public Libraries
Libraries should not require patrons to use blocking software when
accessing the Internet. The ACLU, like the American Library Association
(ALA), opposes use of blocking software in public libraries. Libraries are
critical to realizing the dream of universal access to the Internet, a
dream that would be drastically altered if they were forced to become
Internet censors.
In a recent announcement stating its policy, the ALA said:
Libraries are places of inclusion rather than exclusion. Current
blocking/filtering software prevents not only access to what some may
consider "objectionable" material, but also blocks information protected by
the First Amendment. The result is that legal and useful material will
inevitably be blocked.
Librarians have never been in the business of determining what their
patrons should read or see, and the fact that the material is now found on
Internet is no different. By installing inaccurate and unreliable blocking
programs on library Internet terminals, public libraries - which are almost
always governmental entities- would inevitably censor speech that patrons
are constitutionally entitled to access.
It has been suggested that a library's decision to install blocking
software is like other legitimate selection decisions that libraries
routinely make when they add particular books to their collections. But in
fact, blocking programs take selection decisions totally out of the hands
of the librarian and place them in the hands of a company with no
experience in library science. As the ALA noted, "(F)ilters can impose the
producer's viewpoint on the community."
Because, as noted above, most filtering programs don't provide a list of
the sites they block, libraries won't even know what resources are blocked.
In addition, Internet speakers won't know which libraries have blocked
access to their speech and won't be able to protest.
Installing blocking software in libraries to prevent adults as well as
minors from accessing legally protected material raises severe First
Amendment questions. Indeed, that principle - that governments can't block
adult access to speech in the name of protecting children - was one of the
key reasons for the Supreme Court's decision in Reno v. ACLU.
If adults are allowed full access, but minors are forced to use blocking
programs, constitutional problems remain. Minors, especially older minors,
have a constitutional right to access many of the resources that have been
shown to be blocked by user-based blocking programs.
One of the virtues of the Internet is that it allows an isolated gay
teenager in Des Moines, Iowa to talk to other teenagers around the globe
who are also struggling with issues relating to their sexuality. It allows
teens to find out how to avoid AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
even if they are too embarrassed to ask an adult in person or even too
embarrassed to check out a book.
When the ACLU made this argument in Reno v. ACLU, it was considered
controversial, even among our allies. But the Supreme Court agreed that
minors have rights too. Library blocking proposals that allow minors full
access to the Internet only with parental permission are unacceptable.
Libraries can and should take other actions that are more protective of
online free speech principles. First, libraries can publicize and provide
links to particular sites that have been recommended for children. Second,
to avoid unwanted viewing by passersby (and to protect the confidentiality
of users), libraries can install Internet access terminals in ways that
minimize public view. Third, libraries can impose "content-neutral" time
limits on Internet use.
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The above text was edited to reduce length.
Please refer to the full text at:
http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/burning.html#Blocking
Joe C. 10/1/97