Plano City Council Approves
Unfiltered Access Option
Following the recommendation of an advisory panel, the Plano (Tex.) City Council voted August 23 to offer unfiltered Internet access on one computer in each of the town’s four library branches. The unfiltered computer would be made available only to adults and children with parental permission who were blocked from accessing sites on the filtered computers, the Dallas Morning News reported August 24. The new policy would provide two levels of filtering; patrons 17 and younger will face more restrictions and must obtain parental permission to go online at all.
Mayor John Longstreet and four council members voted for the plan. Three other members opposed it, favoring a plan that would place filters on all computers, but others expressed fears of First Amendment challenges that could cost millions of dollars to defend.
The vote followed two hours of discussion and public comment. The newspaper reported that the 18 audience members who commented on the issue were evenly split between the two plans.
Posted August 30, 1999.
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