New Hampshire Library Removes Filters
to Avoid Lawsuit
In the face of a lawsuit threatened by a local free-speech group, the Nashua (N.H.) Public Library Board voted August 16 to stop offering only filtered Internet access. The library’s year-old Internet policy had prompted a June 29 warning letter to the board from lawyers representing the Nashua-based First Amendment Legal Defense Fund. “Our chance of winning a lawsuit was probably slim to none,” Board Chair Arthur Barrett said at the meeting.
“I’m happy that the Nashua Library Board of Trustees has finally voted to start to bring its library policy into line with the Bill of Rights,” Art Ketchen of the FALDF told the Associated Press August 18.
The revised policy approved by the board instructs the library to run SurfWatch on one machine in the children’s area. The blocking software’s configuration will continue to filter out material in five categories: violence, sexually explicit material, hate speech, drugs and alcohol, and gambling.
Posted August 21, 2000.
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