LIBRARIES: PUBLIC : CENSORSHIP : LAWS : UNITED STATES: GOVERNMENT: The Cost of Censorship in Libraries: 10 Years Under the Childrens Internet Protection Act

[David P. Dillard]

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LIBRARIES: PUBLIC :

CENSORSHIP :

LAWS :

UNITED STATES: GOVERNMENT:

The Cost of Censorship in Libraries:
10 Years Under the Childrens Internet Protection Act

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The Cost of Censorship in Libraries:
10 Years Under the Childrens Internet Protection Act

September 4, 2013

By Rainey Reitman

Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/09/cost-censorship-libraries-
10-years-under-childrens-internet-protection-act

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A shorter URL for the above link:

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http://tinyurl.com/ktyrsfx

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This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the enforcement of the
Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which brought new levels of
Internet censorship to libraries across the country. CIPA was signed into
law in 2000 and found constitutional by the Supreme Court in 2003. The law
is supposed to encourage public libraries and schools to filter child
pornography and obscene or harmful to minors images from the librarys
Internet connection in exchange for continued federal funding.
Unfortunately, as Deborah Caldwell-Stone explains in Filtering and the
First Amendment, aggressive interpretations of this law have resulted in
extensive and unnecessary censorship in libraries, often because libraries
go beyond the legal requirements of CIPA when implementing content
filters. As a result, students and library patrons across the country are
routinely and unnecessarily blocked from accessing constitutionally
protected websites.

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First, libraries dont actually have to comply with CIPA, which only
applies to libraries that accept e-rate discounts or Library Services and
Technology Act grants for Internet access; libraries that turn down this
funding need not comply with the law. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. Library in San Jose has successfully fought initiatives to install
Internet filters, even at the cost of certain federal funds.

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For institutions it does cover, CIPA has three requirements: that schools
and public libraries adopt a written policy that includes an Internet
filter, that they hold a public meeting before the policy is enacted, and
that the Internet filtering is enforced when the computers are used. As
Caldwell-Stone explains, the Internet policy must include a few things,
specifically:

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Schools and libraries subject to CIPA must certify that the
institution has adopted an internet safety policy that includes use of a
"technology protection measure"filtering or blocking softwareto keep
adults from accessing images online that are obscene or child pornography.
The filtering software must also block minors access to images that are
"harmful to minors," that is, sexually explicit images that adults have a
legal right to access but lacking any serious literary, artistic,
political, or scientific value for minors.

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According to CIPA, libraries must place filters on all the computers owned
by the library, though the filter can be turned off upon request. Schools
that are covered by CIPA have some additional requirements (see text of
CIPA).

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snip

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Topics Covered in This Article:

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Problems with CIPA

Library filters block constitutionally protected content

Filters dont actually effectively block obscene content

Kids are under-prepared for the open web

We dont know exactly whats being blocked

Content blocking goes against the ethical obligations of librarians

What can be done: fighting back against censorship in libraries

Speak to your library

Attend the public event

Ask to have the filter removed

Celebrate 404 Day with EFF

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The complete article may be read at the URL above.

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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jw...@temple.edu
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