[ALA-WO:602] INFO/CIPA: ALA Files Suit to Overturn CIPA;

[ALAWASH E-MAIL]

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 at 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 at 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 at 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/
**************************************************************************