The Florida Library Association says that HB 899 and SB 1552—which would fine libraries where filters aren’t installed and working, as well as allow residents to bring civil action against those that don’t comply—are costly and unnecessary, Tallahassee-based WFTV-TV reported April 13.
“Filters out there can’t do the perfect job,” said Beverly Bartlett, one of approximately 100 protesters who spent the day at the state capitol. “We are using filters in our system now—it’s just an unneeded extra layer of bureaucracy when we are already taking care of it at the local level.”
Rep. Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala), sponsor of the house version of the bill, disagreed. “I’ve had parents come to me and tell me about perverts going in and pulling up a site and tilting the screen so other people could see it and walking away,” he said. Similar bills have cleared the House in the past, but not the Senate.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2003 ruling requires public libraries and schools that receive federal funds for Internet connectivity to filter every online workstation, even staff-only machines, but does not appropriate additional funds to purchase blocking software.
Posted April 16, 2004.