At issue was the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a
federal law passed in December 2000 that ties library funding to
the mandated use of blocking software on internet terminals used by
both adults and minors in public libraries.
The law defines such measures as “a specific technology that
blocks or filters internet access” such as the commercially
available blocking software N2H2, Cyber Patrol, Websense and
Smartfilter.
The ruling on Friday by a three-judge panel of the US Court of
Appeals for the Third District agreed with arguments made by the
American Civil Liberties Union and others that filtering software
cannot effectively screen out only material deemed harmful to
minors.
The court called the software a “blunt instrument,” adding that
“the problems faced by manufacturers and vendors of filtering
software are legion.”
“The court today barred the government from turning librarians
into thought police armed with clumsy blocking programs,” said Ann
Beeson, litigation director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty
Program, which along with the ACLU of Pennsylvania and other rights
groups challenged the law. “The court found that these programs are
inherently flawed and will inevitably prevent library patrons all
over the country from accessing valuable speech online,” she
added.
The decision comes just in time for the libraries. They were
facing a 1st July deadline to install the blocking software or lose
federal financing for internet access facilities. Friday’s ruling
forbids the Government from withholding funds for failure to
install the blocking software.
Any appeal of the court’s decision will go directly to the US
Supreme Court.
See: The
195-page ruling of the court
