A U.S. District Judge, Leonie Brinkema, in a recent decision ruled that Loudoun County, Virginia, errored when they made an effort to block pornography on the World Wide Web in the county's public libraries. Calling it unconstitutional, the judge said that the county violated the first amendment, that guarantees the right to free speech, when they installed a software on library computers that filters what children can access on the Internet.
"The library system violated the First Amendment because the filters were not necessary to further any complelling government interest, were too broadly applied and had inadequate procedures to ensure prompt judicial review, the ruling said" (Judge Orders Library To Stop Filtering Web, Associated Press [AP]). "The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of serveral sites that were blocked."
Allan B. Colombo (c)1998
Personal Comments: Where's the "honor among thieves" here? As much as I believe in the 1st Amendment and the U.S. Constition, I would never expect to walk into a public library and have full, unbridled access to the World Wide Web because of the children who also have access to the same computers. I'm not suggesting that we use Internet filters to block political content, but pornography--come on.
Although I do not fault the American Civil Liberties Union for working to maintain the integrity of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, I do find this particular lawsuit unnecessary and disgusting where it comes to the responsible plaintiffs (the web sites involved). Why would pornagraphy web site owners/operators care if public libraries block access to their content from young children? Obviously they want society's children to witness the opprobrious pictures they offer on their web sites. --Al Colombo
