Washington Supreme Court Approves Use of Library Internet Filters

Public libraries, in theory, are supposed to be bastions of information. But with the rise of the Internet, many libraries have begun putting up online filters, to make sure users are using public broadband connections to search for actual information and not, well, porn. To many, it’s a practical measure. But is it constitutional? According to the Washington state Supreme Court, it is.

Full article here

May 7, 2010 by Uncategorized 6

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6 Responses

  1. Bibliofuture says:
    May 7, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    Opinion
    Here is the opinion from the court as a PDF file.

    There was also a concurrence and a dissent
    Concurrence (PDF)
    Dissent (PDF)

    Reply
  2. ahniwa says:
    May 7, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    Not great coverage of this story
    The post you reference is a fairly basic summary; there’s a lot of coverage out there, search google news for “North Central Regional Library”, but in the meantime, this LJ article with its May 7 updates is much more thorough:

    http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6728037.html?desc=topstory

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says:
    May 8, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    Majority Opinion
    Although your posted links to concurring and dissenting opinions
    the actual majority opinion (what was being concurred or dissented) was not posted.

    You can find the majority opinion here:
    http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.showOpinion&filename=822000MAJ

    Reply
    • Bibliofuture says:
      May 8, 2010 at 8:02 pm

      Look again
      Look again.

      The word “here” is linked to the majority opinion. I did not change this. I had a link to the majority opinion from when I first put up the comment.

      That is why my language linking to the concurrence and the dissent say “there was also a concurrence and a dissent” because right above them I had already linked to the majority opinion.

      Reply
  4. SafeLibraries says:
    May 8, 2010 at 3:51 pm

    Court Rules No Porn in Library
    See “Court Rules No Porn in Library; Washington State Supreme Court Rules Public Library Internet Filters are Constitutional; Local Control Trumps ALA; ACLU Threats to Sue are Empty.”

    -=-=-=-
    http://www.SafeLibraries.org
    http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  5. Bibliofuture says:
    May 10, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    ReadWriteWeb
    There is a ReadWriteWeb blog post about this court decision.

    Reply

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