The American Library Association filed its response February 10 to the Justice Department’s brief defending the Children’s Internet Protection Act. In its brief, ALA claims there is no “valid analogy between filtering Internet access and the inevitable content-based choices a library makes when it acquires materials for its physical collection. With the provision of Internet access, the library opens up a portal to a huge amount of communication, much of which would never be purchased for inclusion in a physical collection. It cannot then sever access to a limited class of that universe—relying entirely on the secret decision making of third parties—and claim that this is akin to classic physical collection development.”
“Internet filters inevitably block access to many thousands of Web sites that do not meet the software companies’ own definitions, let alone those set forth in CIPA,” the brief adds. “The state may not censor protected speech in order to suppress unprotected speech.”
The American Civil Liberties Union also filed a brief in the case February 10. “Under this Court’s well-established First Amendment rules, CIPA fails the strict scrutiny required of content-based speech restrictions,” the brief claims. “Ignoring the extensive trial record, the government argues that CIPA should be upheld under rational basis review because it is consistent with the traditional discretion of libraries to select books for their collections. Yet under CIPA, the federal government, not a local librarian, dictates what speech libraries nationwide must exclude from the patrons.”
Amicus curiae briefs in support of the ALA and ACLU have been filed by the Online Policy Group and Seth Finkelstein; the Free Expression Policy Project on behalf of eight organizations working to bridge the digital divide; and a coalition of organizations representing publishers, booksellers, journalists, and authors led by the Association of American Publishers.
Arguments in the case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court March 5. A decision is expected by July 1. ALA’s briefs, as well as other legal documents in the case, are online at ALA’s CIPA Web page.
Posted February 17, 2003.