In a quiet courtroom tucked away in a federal building here, a titanic battle is competing free speech against government efforts to protect children from the seemingly limitless pages of pornography in cyberspace.
Titled simply enough, the American Library Association vs. the United States of American, the trial will determine the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA).
(46) {{U}}Passed by Congress in December 2000, the law requires all libraries that receive federal technology funds to install "protection measures" on all computers that have access to the Internet.{{/U}} In other words, they must have blocking software to prevent youngsters from accidentally, or even intentionally, getting a peek at the multitude of hard-core sites available with just a few well-placed clicks on a computer terminal.
To free-speech advocates from librarians to the American Civil Liberties Union, it's a well-intentioned but dangerous assault on America's First Amendment freedoms. (47) {{U}}They argue that even the best blocking software is so flawed that it would also limit adult access to a wide array of constitutionally protected speech.{{/U}}
"It's very easy to suggest that we all believe in the First Amendment, we just want to keep our kids safe," says John Berry, president of the American Library Association in Chicago. (48){{U}}"But as soon as you start making those kinds of concessions, you began to undermine one of our founding principles, and you can't sacrifice those kinds of things for a little temporary security."{{/U}}
Supporters of the Internet-filtering law argue that the First Amendment has nothing to do with CIPA because it's nothing more than a funding bill. If libraries have objections, they simply don't have to accept the federal funds upon which the blocking software's use is conditioned.
There's the whole issue of the blocking software itself: Does it work or not? (49){{U}}One study of more than 7,000 websites that had been blocked by the various software companies found that between 65 and 70 percent of the sites were "deemed to have potential value" to a library user.{{/U}}
As to worries about overblocking, the law's supporters note the law allows adults to ask a librarian to turn off the blocking software.
(50) {{U}}But the librarians argue that the mandatory filter does take discretion away from librarians and their communities, which pay for about 80 percent of the average library's budget, and gives it to the federal government.{{/U}}
After this three-judge panel rules, one side or the other is expected to file an appeal, and that will go directly to the Supreme Court.