Judges’ Remarks Give Optimism
to CIPA Opponents
Opponents of the Children’s Internet Protection Act expressed optimism at the close of the trial to determine the federal law’s constitutionality. The three-judge panel hearing the case openly voiced their skepticism over the law, which mandates filtering for libraries and schools that receive federal funding for Internet access.
“We’re stuck right in the heart of the First Amendment when we’re talking about libraries,” said Third Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Edward Becker, and Judge Harvey Bartle noted during the April 4 closing arguments that “Every witness has testified that the statute can’t be applied according to its own terms.” Reuters reported that the judges also were concerned that decisions about which Web sites should be blocked are made by anonymous corporate officials, whom Judge John Fullam called “the nameless and faceless,” adding, “What right does the government have to require this kind of filtering system?”
The second week of the trial saw testimony in support of the challenge from Anne Lipow, a Berkeley, California, library consultant; Benjamin Edelman, a computer expert and consultant at Harvard Law School’s Berkeman Center for Internet and Society; and Mary Kay Chelton of the Queens College/CUNY Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.
Government witnesses included David Ewick, director of the Fulton County Public Library in Rochester, Indiana; Westerville (Ohio) Public Library Director Don Barlow; Don Davis of the University of Texas/Austin Graduate School of Library and Information Science; and Cory Finnell, an independent consultant formerly employed by filtering firm N2H2.
The judges are expected to rule by early May to allow libraries time to meet the July 1 deadline for compliance with the law. Any appeal will go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Posted April 8, 2002.
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