Expert: Paul Edward Zukowski - 8/1/2003

Question
HiPaul, a couple years ago, the Supreme Court ruled, I believe, that libraries can't censor what adult patrons view on the internet.  I also believe they said separate PC's could be available for private viewing and kids could be shielded.  Do you know of the ruling and where I can find info about it?(this isn't the ruling about filtering which just came down)

tks so much

bw

Answer
I believe this what you are looking for

www.cnn.com/US/9706/26/scotus.cda/

and this is the recent one is  recent



<h4>For Immediate Release: Monday, June 23, 2003</h4>


<h1>Supreme Court Supports Library Internet Blocking Law</h1>

<h2>Damages Free Speech of Library Patrons and Web Publishers</h2>
<h4>Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release</h4>

<p>
San Francisco - The Supreme Court ruled today that a federal
statute requiring Internet blocking, also known as filtering,
in libraries receiving certain federal funds or discounts is
constitutional. Reversing a lower court decision by the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the court noted that the
use of Internet blocking to comply with the Children's
Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in libraries is
constitutional because the need for libraries to prevent
minors from accessing obscene materials outweighs the free
speech rights of library patrons and website publishers.
</p>

<p>
The CIPA law requires all schools and libraries that receive
federal funds or discounts to install and use a technology
for blocking Internet speech that is obscene, child
pornography, or in the case of minors, "harmful to minors."
However, based on extensive evidence, the lower court in this
case found that many studies report that Internet blocking
software is incapable of blocking only the materials required
by CIPA, a conclusion supported by many independent studies.
The CIPA law is also problematic because speech that is
harmful to minors is still legal for adults, and not all
library patrons are minors.
</p>

<p>
"The Supreme Court today dealt a tremendous blow to the free
speech rights of child and adult library patrons and
Internet publishers by supporting Congress' mandate that
libraries must install faulty Internet blocking software to
obtain federal funding or discounts," said Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) Attorney Kevin Bankston, an Equal
Justice Works / Bruce J. Ennis Fellow.
</p>

<p>
"The tragedy is that millions of library patrons now join
the millions of students, many of them no longer minors, who
face the Internet blocking barrier to obtaining a proper
education at schools nationwide," said EFF Media Relations
Director Will Doherty. "The Children's Internet Protection
Act holds library patrons and students hostage to faulty
blocking software created with arbitrary standards foreign
to their own communities."
</p>