Following up on a September 2000 decision to restrict minors to workstations that block sexually explicit material, the trustees of the North Harris Montgomery (Tex.) College District approved a policy January 23 that effectively restricts adults’ online sessions too. Adult students can be expelled and staff members fired for viewing items deemed to be pornographic, according to the January 24 Houston Chronicle.
Although the policy went into effect immediately, the college district has not yet purchased blocking software.
Approved by an 11-member task force of NHMCD employees and area residents, the policy was developed at the behest of task-force member William B. Elmer, who as chair of the grassroots organization ADHOC (Adults Helping Our Children) had urged the filtering of all college-district computers. The group rejected that option, citing the First Amendment lawsuit lost by Loudoun County (Va.) Library in 1998 over blanket filtering.
Elmer has also influenced Internet policy at the county’s public library: Last spring he convinced the Montgomery County Commission to filter all county-library machines, promising that the American Family Association’s legal division would defend any challenges pro bono.
Posted January 29, 2001.