Amidst today's hoopla over the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion upholding racial discrimination in college admissions, another decision has been under-noticed: the Supremes also ruled against the American Library Association.
ALA has resolutely opposed the Children's Internet Protection Act and its requirement for Internet filtering in the areas of public libraries where kids use computers. This is while the library profession as a whole declines to offer a realistic alternative that would shield kids from porn and other offensive materials. Like most of the educrats who oppose standardized testing, they only point out the flaws in the mandated approach but can't seem to use their brainpower to design a better solution -- whining, not thinking.
Congress may use its spending power to encourage public libraries to install filtering software on their computers to protect children from pornography on the Internet. In a major 6-to-3 decision Monday, the US Supreme Court upheld a federal law that conditioned the receipt of federal aid to libraries upon the use of such content-blocking software.Free-speech advocates had attacked the law as an unconstitutional form of government censorship. But the court disagreed, ruling instead that the law, the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), did not violate the First Amendment rights of library patrons. In addition, the justices said the law was a valid use by Congress of its spending power.
via the Christian Science Monitor
The ALA's response was typical:
The American Library Association (ALA) today expressed disappointment in today’s very narrow decision from the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the Children’s Internet Protection Act.The American Library Association again calls for full disclosure of what sites filtering companies are blocking, who is deciding what is filtered and what criteria are being used. Findings of fact clearly show that filtering companies are not following legal definitions of “harmful to minors” and “obscenity.” Their practices must change.
To assist local libraries in their decision process, the ALA will seek this information from filtering companies, then evaluate and share the information with the thousands of libraries now being forced to forego funds or choose faulty filters. The American Library Association also will explain how various products work, criteria to consider in selecting a products and how to best use a given product in a public setting. Library users must be able to see what sites are being blocked and, if needed, be able to request the filter be disabled with the least intrusion into their privacy and the least burden on library service.
via ALA
Read the full Supreme Court opinion in PDF format.
Posted by Alan at June 23, 2003 08:48 PM