Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Libertarian Party sues over Ventura County library filtering
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 17:28:50 -0500
From Politec
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Los Angeles Times Saturday, March 21, 1998 Libraries' Ban on Internet Porn Sparks Lawsuit Courts: Libertarian Party says county system's rules violate 1st Amendment. Patrons are required to sign a form promising not to view sex sites. By SCOTT HADLY, Times Staff Writer Free speech advocates in Ventura County are knocking heads with county officials over an attempt to keep Internet surfers away from pornography at public libraries. Ventura County's library system requires users of branch computer terminals to sign a form promising they will not view sexually explicit material. But such a requirement is unconstitutional, says the Libertarian Party of Ventura County in a lawsuit filed March 3. The restrictions violate the 1st Amendment rights of library patrons, said attorney William John Weilbacher. "This isn't about the merits of pornography," said Weilbacher, who filed the suit. "It's about the government having no business saying what you can and cannot look at." The suit is one of many that have sprouted up across the nation that pit civil libertarians against public libraries that attempt to keep smut off their public-access terminals. Public libraries in Kern County in February ended a policy of using software filters to block access to sexually explicit Internet sites after threats of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. A similar case is now pending in Orange County, and in Virginia a library agency vowed to fight all the way to the Supreme Court a challenge to its policy of blocking access to pornography. While many filters effectively block out pornography, they also can block out sites that have information on such things as AIDS and breast cancer, opponents argue. Last year the American Library Assn. adopted a resolution condemning the use of filter programs to block constitutionally protected speech. Weilbacher said even though the Ventura library system does not have a computer filtering system, the rules that require patrons to sign a form saying they will not access certain sites is going too far. "The general rule is that the government is not allowed to regulate speech," he said. "It's perfectly fine to regulate unlawful speech like child pornography, but they're crossing the threshold by restricting adults from viewing what is legal." Eleven members of the Libertarian Party of Ventura County are listed as plaintiffs on the case, including Andrea Nagy, who recently attempted to open the county's first club to dispense
medicinal marijuana.
[...] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe: send a message to majordomo () vorlon mit edu with this text: subscribe politech More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current thread:
- IP: Libertarian Party sues over Ventura County library filtering Dave Farber (Mar 23)