Public Libraries Should Not Block Internet Pornography

Since the internet has been available in schools and libraries in this country, there has been a debate about what should be accessible to users, especially minors. The amount of information disseminated on the world wide web is vast, with some sources valuable for scholarly and personal research and entertainment, and some sources that contain material that is objectionable to some (ie. pornography, gambling, hate groups sites, violent materials). Some information potentially accessible on the internet such as child pornography and obscenity is strictly illegal and is not protected under the First Amendment. Some information available on the internet that may be valuable to some is at the same time perceived to be worthless or†¦show more content†¦Plaintiffs claimed that constitutionally protected materials were wrongly blocked and that the Loudoun Policy violated their First Amendment rights. The court agreed and found the Loudoun Policy of filtering for all patrons un constitutional. The court held that there were less restrictive means available to achieve the privacy level demanded by the Loudoun County community than interfering with free speech. Less restrictive, in the court’s opinion, were privacy screens for computer monitors and a certain degree of physical monitoring by library staff. Congress made an attempt to place content-based restrictions on school and public library internet use in the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000. This act requires the use of some type of internet filtering software for all public libraries that attain funds from the Federal government (in the form of E-rate discounts or Library Services and Technology Act grants). Should a library refuse to comply with CIPA guidelines, that library would have to maintain its technological services without the government discount or LSTA grants. Holding to the CIPA guidelines, both the E-rate and LSTA stipulate that filters may be disabled or ‘legitimate’ sites unblocked by adults who request it, but it is unclear â€Å"whether libraries ‘must’ provide for such disabling† (Anten 79). After CIPA was passed, it was immediately challenged by theShow MoreRelated Internet Censorship Essay802 Words   |  4 PagesInternet Censorship Internet Censorship. What does this mean to us? What is restricted? Censorship is summarily defined as the suppression of objectionable material. That means that material such as pornography, militant information, offensive language, anti-religion, and racism would be restricted in use. Freedom would not only be restricted to material placed on the web, but also what you could access, and where you could explore. 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