Pennsylvania State Representative Keith McCall has introduced a bill that would prohibit public libraries from receiving state aid unless they adopt policies to prevent minors from seeing sexually explicit materials on the Internet.
The April 27 Allentown Morning Call said McCall drafted the bill after a staff member told him that a commercial sex site had a URL similar to that of the White House. McCall said he was troubled by the possibility of a child doing research on the White House inadvertently accessing hardcore pornography.
McCall said he simply wants libraries to have written policies telling parents and minors what they can and can’t do on library computers. The decision to take tougher measures, such as filters, would be left to local officials. “I just think parents would have some peace of mind knowing there is some kind of policy in place,” he told the newspaper. The bill has been referred to the House Education Committee.
Posted May 3, 1999.