Sounds like an obvious target for activism to add a requirement that any censorware systems selected be clearly identified to the public, including the kids, and that the blocking criteria and lists be made available to the parents and adult library users. In particular, many local jurisdictions have sunshine laws that might have applicability, and anything so blatantly Un-American and dangerous as third-party censorship certainly needs to be watched. On the legal side, the idea of a Federal mandate that state and local jurisdictions make decisions that cannot be reviewed by the Feds seems pretty dodgy; certainly the whole issue ought to be reviewable by courts in response to a citizen lawsuit, even if Federal prosecutors can't initiate actions about it. At 09:47 AM 2/10/98 -0800, Robert Cannon wrote to CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM,

Sen. McCain has introduced his bill to require schools and libraries that acquire Internet access using the universal service fund to restrict the access of children to indecency. The text of the Bill can be found at ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/c105/s1619.is.txt It already has three cosponsors, one of which is our friend Dan "no I wont give up" Coats.

[Quotes from text of bill about how schools and libraries need systems to block material "deemed to be inappropriate for minors"; schools have to select and promise to install to request the money, while libraries have to employ it on one or more computers, though the language appears to be crafted sufficiently vaguely as to not require them to use it on all their computers (or even necessarily on computers accessible to kids :-) ]

`(4) LOCAL DETERMINATION OF CONTENT- For purposes of paragraphs (2) and (3), the determination of what matter is inappropriate for minors shall be made by the school, school board, library or other authority responsible for making the required certification. No agency or instrumentality of the United States Government may-- `(A) establish criteria for making that determination; `(B) review the determination made by the certifying school, school board, library, or other authority; or `(C) consider the criteria employed by the certifying school, school board, library, or other authority in the administration of subsection (h)(1)(B).'.

Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639