Pro-FIlter Group Holds Press Conference ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 10, Number 20 March 21, 2001 In this issue: ALA Files Suit to Overturn CIPA; Pro-Filter Group Holds Press Conference The American Library Association filed a lawsuit yesterday, March 20th to overturn the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which mandates the use of blocking technology on computers in public libraries. The ALA believes this legislation is unconstitutional because it restricts access to constitutionally protected information available on the Internet at public libraries. Commenting on the litigation which was filed with ten other co- litigants, ALA President, Nancy Kranich said "Forcing libraries to choose between funding and censorship means millions of library users will lose - particularly those in the most poverty-stricken and geographically isolated areas of the country, The federal government should not be subsidizing commercial filtering companies by forcing libraries to buy technology that doesn't work." For further information regarding CIPA go to ALA's CIPA web site at: http://www.ala.org/cipa or For more specific information regarding the litigation click on links below. ALA's Press Release Regarding the Suit http://www.ala.org/cipa/cipapressrelease.html ALA's Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief http://www.ala.org/cipa/cipacomplaint.pdf A Letter Explaining ALA's Position Regarding CIPA http://www.ala.org/cipa/march1letter.html A Message to ALA Members http://www.ala.org/cipa/membersupport.html Talking Points for Spokespeople Who will be Addressing CIPA Issues http://www.ala.org/cipa/#Talking Points The ACLU also filed suit against CIPA today. Their press release can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/features/f032001a.html. As expected, supporters of federal filtering mandates held a press conference this afternoon in response to ALA's suit. The long list of speakers included: Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK), Rep. Chip Pickering (R- Miss.), Jan La Rue, of the Family Research Council, Donna Rice Hughes, and Patrick Trueman of the American Family Association. The full text of the Family Research Council's Press Release on the event can be found at: http://www.frc.org/press/content.cfm?get=release&id=P01C05. Congressman Istook's comments focused on American's support for filtering. Jan LaRue's comments focused on the argument that libraries and schools do not have pornography in print media and should not have it available on the Internet. Laura Morgan, a librarian who has filed suit maintaining that unfiltered Internet access created a hostile workplace at the Chicago Public Library, talked about her experiences listening to little girls talk about how awful it is when the little boys look at "nasty pictures" on the Internet. Donna Rice Hughes described her work on the COPA Commission. Bruce Taylor of the National Law Center focused on distinguishing CIPA from COPA and the Communications Decency Act. Congressman Pickering focused on the connection between federal funding and the filtering mandate. Wendy Wright, from Concerned Women for America, focused on the "protecting children" issue and concluded with the comment "Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for material that is illegal. The ALA and the ACLU are accomplices with the worst kind of criminals by trying to undo CIPA." The American Center for Law & Justice speaker appeared to base his remarks on Senator McCain's reading of CIPA, claiming that the law would not apply to all computers in a library or school, and was therefore constitutional. The Internet Safety Association (a trade association made up of several small Internet corporations) attacked the Consumer Reports study results. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children did not speak at the press conference, however, a press release on their letterhead was in the packet distributed by Rep. Istook's staff. In it, they commend Istook's efforts, based in large part on their study that found 1 in 4 teens and preteens had unwanted exposure to sexual pictures on the Internet. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy. ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, 2175 Bayfield Drive, Columbus, OH 43229 (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************