New First Report: Net filters in libraries

Internet Filters and Public Libraries by David L. Sobel is a new First Report now available from the First Amendment Center.

Sobel , general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, examines the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2003 ruling in U.S. v. American Library Association, which declared the Children’s Internet Protection Act constitutional. CIPA mandates that libraries accepting federal funds install filtering software to block access to material that is “obscene,� “child pornography� or “harmful to minors.�