Internet Filters and Public Libraries by David L. Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, provides background on the development of the technology, the pressures to install filters, legal challenges, and the case against filters. Sobel concludes that “government efforts to control new electronic media must be subject to close scrutiny,” adding that despite the Supreme Court’s CIPA ruling, “it appears likely that the final chapter on mandated content controls has not yet been written.”
The 20-page document is available on the website of the First Amendment Center, which is a program of the Freedom Forum.
Posted November 17, 2003.