The unanimous vote makes San Francisco the first major city to defy the controversial Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a law passed last year requiring all libraries that receive federal funding to install the filters. Those libraries that opt not to comply with the law must forgo millions of dollars in federal subsidies and grants.
Board members say the vote reflects San Franciscos long-standing policy of outlawing Internet content filters. As a result, city libraries will lose a paltry $20,000 of the citys estimated $50 million budget for its public libraries.
Earlier this year, the City Board approved a resolution backing a lawsuit challenging the new law, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Library Association (ALA).
The groups filed suit to overturn the law on the grounds that it muzzles constitutionally protected speech. The ALA and the ACLU claim that most filtering technologies block material that is not at all related to pornographic content or hate sites, and that almost all filters let at least some pornographic or hate content through.
In defense of the new statute, the Justice Department has argued that CIPA does not violate the First Amendment because it gives communities ultimate control over how the technology should be used.
The legislation approved by the San Francisco board will need to sustain a second reading next week before it is enacted into law. As it is now written, the ordinance does not apply to library Internet terminals that are used by patrons under the age of 13.
Judith Krug, director of the ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom, said federal funding comprises slightly less than 1 percent of the total funding for the nations 119,000 public libraries.
Yet, for many small towns across the country, a loss of federal funding could force public libraries to pull the plug on Internet connectivity.
"I have talked to some of my colleagues in libraries where theyre not getting $20,000 a year, but the money is still vital because thats what theyre using to hook the community up to the Internet," Krug said. "When the community is small or poor, very often what is available in the library is the majority of the connectivity in town."
The San Francisco boards action comes just weeks in advance of a deadline by which all publicly funded libraries will have to certify that they are taking steps to implement the new law.
In a somewhat auspicious omen for a case challenging a crackdown on Internet pornography in the nations public libraries, the CIPA case is set to proceed to trial beginning Valentines Day, 2002.
Brian Krebs, Newsbytes
