A week after the Plano (Tex.) Library advisory board rejected an area resident's insistence that the library install Internet blocking software, the city council ordered on November 9 that a report be prepared within two weeks comparing the efficacy of competing Internet filters.
Both the board's action and the council's reaction were triggered by resident Jane Neidenfeuhr, who recapped for council members her October complaint that she had witnessed two young boys viewing "girlie pictures" on a computer monitor, according to the November 10 Dallas Morning News. Trustees had responded by unanimously appending language to already posted warning signs that viewing child pornography, obscenity, and other illegal material is prohibited by state and federal law.
At the meeting, Director of Libraries Maribelle M. Davis asserted that the only truly effective filter was the elimination of Internet access altogether. "Is a filter 100%? No," countered council member Rick Neudorff. "But is 50% better than zero?"
Posted November 16, 1998.