At issue was the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a federal law passed in December 2000 that ties library funding to the mandated use of blocking software on internet terminals used by both adults and minors in public libraries.
The law defines such measures as “a specific technology that blocks or filters internet access” such as the commercially available blocking software N2H2, Cyber Patrol, Websense and Smartfilter.
The ruling on Friday by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Third District agreed with arguments made by the American Civil Liberties Union and others that filtering software cannot effectively screen out only material deemed harmful to minors.
The court called the software a “blunt instrument,” adding that “the problems faced by manufacturers and vendors of filtering software are legion.”
“The court today barred the government from turning librarians into thought police armed with clumsy blocking programs,” said Ann Beeson, litigation director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program, which along with the ACLU of Pennsylvania and other rights groups challenged the law. “The court found that these programs are inherently flawed and will inevitably prevent library patrons all over the country from accessing valuable speech online,” she added.
The decision comes just in time for the libraries. They were facing a 1st July deadline to install the blocking software or lose federal financing for internet access facilities. Friday’s ruling forbids the Government from withholding funds for failure to install the blocking software.
Any appeal of the court’s decision will go directly to the US Supreme Court.