Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a bill February 9 that would require schools and libraries receiving universal-service funds to restrict children's access to indecent materials online. As a condition for getting a subsidy, a school would have to certify that it would use filtering software. Public libraries would have to certify that at least one computer available for public use has filters.
The Internet School Filtering Act (S. 1619) was the focus of a hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee the next day, which also considered a bill filed last November to prohibit commercial distribution on the Web of material that is "harmful to minors" to persons under age 17.
"The prevention lies not in censoring what goes on the Internet, but rather in filtering what comes out of it onto the computers our children use outside the home," said McCain, a critic of the universal-service program.
Posted February 16, 1998.