At the end of February, Oregon Sen. Charles Starr (R-Hillsboro) introduced a bill that would require schools and libraries to filter “to the extent technically feasible, access to offensive material,” including “adult-oriented, sexually explicit Internet sites” from workstations situated in or near children’s areas. Patrons under 18 would be required to use these machines unless a parent or guardian consents in writing to allowing their minors unfettered access—an option unavailable in the Children’s Internet Protection Act, whose constitutionality the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union has challenged.
“We’re a lot more familiar with the Internet and what’s out there than we were,” Sen. Starr said in the February 27 Portland Oregonian. “As this public knowledge and awareness increases, there are more concerns about what we’re exposing our children to.”
Filtering-mandate legislation has also been introduced in three other states. In Illinois, legislators are debating whether to require the installation of blocking software in K–8 schools. Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill requiring schools and libraries to block minors’ online access to “inappropriate material,” as well as the holding of regular public meetings to define what material is unfit for patrons under 18. New York representatives have two bills under consideration, both of which call for written parental consent for minors to gain Internet access.
Posted March 3, 2003.