San Francisco Bans Filters
Despite Loss of Funds
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously October 1 to ban Internet filters on most public-access computers at the city’s libraries.
The decision will not change the library’s existing Internet policy, which already supports unfiltered access on all terminals, the San Francisco Chronicle reported October 2. Library Director of Public Affairs Marcia Schneider told American Libraries that Supervisor Mark Leno initiated the ban “as a supportive gesture to the library.”
“We were already planning to forego the e-rate funding,” Schneider said, referring to the $20,000 or more in federal funds the library could lose by not installing filters as mandated by the Children’s Internet Protection Act. But that amount is a small fraction of the overall $50-million budget, she pointed out.
The board’s decision does not include terminals in children’s areas; whether to install filtering software on those computers will be left up to the library commission. Although children’s terminals currently are unfiltered, the idea “will certainly be reopened to discussion,” Schneider said, after some supervisors voiced concerns about the possibility of children gaining access to pornography.
Posted October 8, 2001.
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