Federal Filtering Mandate
Reintroduced in Senate
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) have reintroduced a bill requiring schools and libraries that receive federal e-rate subsidies for Internet connections to install Internet filtering software. The measure, dubbed the Child Internet Protection Act (S. 97), would apply retroactively to schools and libraries that have already received the subsidies.
Last year's measure, the Internet School Filtering Act, failed at the end of the congressional session. Since then, a policy requiring filters on all Internet terminals at the Loudoun County (Va.) Library has been ruled unconstitutional. “After the Loudoun County decision, it makes no sense in the library context,” Barry Steinhardt, an associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union, told the CNet online news service. “These filtering programs have no place in libraries, especially when they are forced on users.”
CNet speculates that the filtering bill may be included in proposed hearings scrutinizing the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees the e-rate program.
Posted January 25, 1999.
|
