Volusia County Council
Rescinds Filtering Policy
The Volusia County (Fla.) Council voted February 4 to install Internet filters only on children's computers at the county's libraries rather than on all terminals, rescinding an earlier decision.
In December the council voted to filter all public-access machines, stating their willingness to risk a First Amendment lawsuit in the wake of Loudoun County (Va.) Library's having a similar filtering policy declared unconstitutional. Since then, however, two newly elected council members indicated they would take a more moderate position.
The Orlando Sentinel reported February 5 the library will place try adult computers in out-of-the-way areas to prevent children from walking by and seeing objectionable material. “By putting a filtered system in, if they think it will help the children, that's absolutely fine by us,” trustee Eva Williams told the newspaper. “But since the problem never emanated from the children's section in the first place, I think that's a little ironic.”
Posted February 8, 1999.
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