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US top court upholds Internet library filters
Washington, June 23: The US Supreme Court upheld on Monday a law requiring the nation`s public libraries to filter out Internet pornography, ruling it does not violate free-speech rights.
Washington, June 23: The US Supreme Court upheld on Monday a law requiring the nation`s public libraries to filter out Internet pornography, ruling it does not violate free-speech rights.
By a 6-3 vote, the justices reversed a ruling by a special three-judge federal court panel in Philadelphia that the filtering requirement caused libraries to violate the First Amendment constitutional rights of their patrons.
The decision could affect the online choices available to millions of Americans who use Internet-connected computers at public libraries.
The ruling was a defeat for a coalition of libraries, library patrons and Web site operators, led by the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law as unconstitutional censorship.
The Children`s Internet Protection Act, signed into law in 2000, required libraries that receive federal technology subsidies to use content filters to screen out obscenity, child pornography, and sexually explicit material deemed harmful to minors.
The subsidies, which have totaled nearly $1 billion and can make up 90 percent of a library`s technology budget, help pay for Internet access, automated catalogs and other services. Companies that make the filters include Websense Inc. WBSN.O , N2H2 Inc. NTWO.OB and Surfcontrol Plc SRF.L .
About 143 million Americans use the Internet regularly, and about 10 percent of them go online at public libraries, according to factual findings in the case. Nearly all the nation`s libraries provide Internet access.
The decision involved the latest test of efforts by Congress to shield children from online pornography.
The Supreme Court first struck down the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Last year, the court ruled on the Child Online Protection Act of 1998, sending the case back for a decision on unresolved free-speech problems.
Librarians and civil liberties groups said the software filters prevented patrons from finding information about breast cancer, homosexuality and other legitimate subjects, and that the law could change librarians into censors.
The US Justice Department in defending the law replied that libraries are not forced to carry pornographic movies and magazines and should not be forced to make pornography available online.
In a 17-page opinion, Chief Justice William Rehnquist said for the court majority that use of filtering software does not violate the patrons` First Amendment rights, does not induce libraries to violate the Constitution and is a valid exercise of congressional power.
Bureau Report
By a 6-3 vote, the justices reversed a ruling by a special three-judge federal court panel in Philadelphia that the filtering requirement caused libraries to violate the First Amendment constitutional rights of their patrons.
The decision could affect the online choices available to millions of Americans who use Internet-connected computers at public libraries.
The ruling was a defeat for a coalition of libraries, library patrons and Web site operators, led by the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law as unconstitutional censorship.
The Children`s Internet Protection Act, signed into law in 2000, required libraries that receive federal technology subsidies to use content filters to screen out obscenity, child pornography, and sexually explicit material deemed harmful to minors.
The subsidies, which have totaled nearly $1 billion and can make up 90 percent of a library`s technology budget, help pay for Internet access, automated catalogs and other services. Companies that make the filters include Websense Inc. WBSN.O , N2H2 Inc. NTWO.OB and Surfcontrol Plc SRF.L .
About 143 million Americans use the Internet regularly, and about 10 percent of them go online at public libraries, according to factual findings in the case. Nearly all the nation`s libraries provide Internet access.
The decision involved the latest test of efforts by Congress to shield children from online pornography.
The Supreme Court first struck down the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Last year, the court ruled on the Child Online Protection Act of 1998, sending the case back for a decision on unresolved free-speech problems.
Librarians and civil liberties groups said the software filters prevented patrons from finding information about breast cancer, homosexuality and other legitimate subjects, and that the law could change librarians into censors.
The US Justice Department in defending the law replied that libraries are not forced to carry pornographic movies and magazines and should not be forced to make pornography available online.
In a 17-page opinion, Chief Justice William Rehnquist said for the court majority that use of filtering software does not violate the patrons` First Amendment rights, does not induce libraries to violate the Constitution and is a valid exercise of congressional power.
Bureau Report