The Filter Debate

There is no doubt that the intention of the CIPA is to protect our children from harm. I believe that both public and school librarians will agree with the underlying premise of this law. The question remains, however, is content filtering software the answer? Does it offer protection or is it censorship? This is a tricky one and places many librarians in the horns of a dilemma.

Groups such as the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union strongly believe that filters impede the citizen's right to constitutionally protected material. They believe that filtering software is fallible, offers parents a false sense of security, and imposes universal judgements on what is deemed inappropriate and what is acceptable. The ALA adamantly states that it is the parent and the parent alone that should make this determination.

Advocates of filtering sofware include groups such as the American Family Association as well as individuals like former librarian David Burt. Former author of website filteringfacts.org, David Burt has made the argument that libraries who implement filters are simply exercising their professional authority to develop the digital library collection, just as they would with the physical collection. He further states that libraries are "community-based family-oriented institutions" where pornography in any format should be excluded. David Burt feels that by including everything on the Internet, libraries will have self-imposed their own value of "free speech absolutism" upon the community. It should also be mentioned that David Burt works for the filtering software industry.