Argued March 5, 2003
Decided June 23, 2003
CASE SUMMARY: In this case the American Library Association (ALA) challenged in court the constitutionality of the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) enacted in 2000, saying that it violated the First Amendment. In this lawsuit ALA sued to overturn the requirement that libraries restrict patrons’ access to computer information, that if Internet filters were not installed, federal funding and computer discounts, such as the E-rate program and Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants would be withheld. The court ruled in favor of CIPA, stating that CIPA applies to the restriction of children’s access to Internet information, particularly to block minors’ access to pornographic images and obscene material, but not to adults. However, the decision was reversed by the Supreme Court in favor of ALA, saying that the CIPA law could not be upheld without limiting adult access to information protected by the First Amendment.
IMPACT/IMPLICATION: Persons age eighteen and older have the right to access information that allows them to explore and gather information at public libraries. The outcome of this case says that if a library patron requests access to Internet information which is blocked, the website shall be made available according to CIPA. Public libraries may choose to use filters they deem appropriate for their patrons, and they should have an Internet acceptable use policy for Internet use.
SCENARIO:
For example, the Wichita Public Library’s computer use policy notes that all workstations are in view of other customers and staff. Users are not permitted to display images containing gratuitous violence or obscenity as defined by Kansas law. Parents are responsible for monitoring minor’s book check-out and computer usage, failure to do so will result in termination of computer services.
APPLICATION: As a media specialist, it will be my responsibility to assist students and staff as they search for information. It is also my job to enforce our school’s acceptable use policy which states, that student’s usage will be suspended for a period of time or terminated if the student is a habitual violator of the acceptable use policy. If students need access to a site that is blocked the site must be reviewed by myself and administration.
SOURCES:
Chanute Public School. Student Handbook. (2013) Retrieved from http://www.chanutehighschool.com/documents/handbook.pdf Open Jurist. UNITED STATES et al.v.AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, INC., et al. (2003) Retrieved from http://openjurist.org/539/us/194/united-states-v-american-library-association-inc United states v. american library assn., inc. (02-361) 539 u.s. 194 (2003) 201 f. supp. 2d 201, reversed. (2012). Cornell University Law School. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-361.ZS.html
Wichita Public Library. Internet Usage Agreement. (2010) Retrieved from http://www.wichita.lib.ks.us/Inhome.htm
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
In this article, Deborah S. Connelly talks about the history of book banning, its presence in society today, and actions that have and can be taken against it. Most of these actions stem from the responsibility of librarians and organizations. Connelly believes that librarians have an obligation to keep their content uncensored and readily available to the public. She has stated that the best way to prevent book censorship is to educate our society about the importance of diverse books. A more specific approach regarding this idea might be for a librarian to remind an opposing patron why the book on trial was bought in the first place, and what it could have to offer the reader. As said on the final page of her article, “Knowledge is the key…
- 319 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In the essay “Let’s Shut Them Down’ by Michael Crowley he argues about web technology and the first amendment begin used wrongly. Crowley used 69-year-old New York citizen John Young as a perfect example using the web in an irresponsible way. Young believed that if people knew the government secrets they would be safer. He would post information on his website of government officials making the information available to anyone to see. As many government official wanted to shut the sites downs, people like Young who ran them were protected because the first amendment giving them the right of freedom of speech, which was clearly taken out of control. Some co-anti websites such as Young were getting out of control such as were government official…
- 302 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The rise of internet usage has led the courts to address the inappropriate images and other offensive materials available to children. In 1997 the US Supreme Court ruled the 1996 Communication Decency Act to be unconstitutional because it prohibited free speech. The courts were able to lean on the advancement in internet monitoring and security software to prevent this…
- 2740 Words
- 11 Pages
Good Essays -
New York is decades old, but nevertheless it presents controversy surrounding issues of free speech that still resonate today (390 U.S. 62, L. Ed. 2d 195, 88 S. Ct. 1274). The State of New York prosecuted Sam Ginsberg for selling copies of the magazines “Sir” and “Mr. Annual” to a sixteen-year-old boy (Ibid). In this case, the Supreme Court upheld a New York state criminal statute (484-h) which prohibited retailers from selling content matter to minors under the age of seventeen, if the material was deemed to be “obscene” (Ibid). At the time (a few years before Miller v. California), the concern was not what counted as obscene, but rather whether the material would be considered obscene for adults (Ibid). Section 484-h of New York’s criminal statute prohibited selling to any person under the age of seventeen content that had either pictures of nudity or sexual conduct or literature containing accounts that stimulate sexual excitement as they were considered “harmful to minors” (Ibid). The court defined “harmful to minors” as what was considered to be offensive in the adult community with respect to what was suitable for minors (Ibid). The Court (led by Justice William Brennan) ruled that section 484-h did not violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments as a restriction on expression…
- 1741 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
FACTS: In Ashcroft v. The Free Speech Coalition, the Supreme Court was given the task of deciding whether or not the Child Pornography Prevention Act or CPPA violated the First Amendment. If a violation of the First Amendment was proven the CPPA would have been found unconstitutional. The Free Speech Coalition, a part of the adult entertainment industry, felt that the language and ultimately the message conveyed by the CPPA was too broad and too vague and had the ability to be misused and could prevent future production.…
- 430 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The basis in the case of Vo v. City of Garden Grove lies within the debate of what is more important the right of free speech, which is given to all American’s as a right under Article 1 in the Constitutional Amendments, or safety of those using the internet cafes in question. Personal safety is not mentioned in the constitution, but as The United State of America’s second President, John Adams, said in 1798, “our constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (Joe, 2005). Although the courts sided with the City of Garden Grove, one judge dissented, saying that the decision infringed upon the right to free speech.…
- 1044 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Manning, Erin. “Parents Must Protect Children from Offensive Material in Books.” MercatorNet. (2009). Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 10 Nov. 2011…
- 642 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In 1996 Congress passed the federal Child Pornography Protection Act (CPPA) which extended federal prohibition against child pornography to sexually explicit images that appear to depict minors but that were actually produced without using real children. The CPPA statute in question prohibited the possession or distribution of images that could be created by using adults who look like minors or by using computer imaging. The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) brought a lawsuit in federal district court against Attorney General Ashcroft and the United States Government based on the fact that the CPPA violated the First Amendment as it “vague” and “overbroad”. The district court upheld the CPPA. The court of appeals, however, reversed the decision claiming that the CPPA was unconstitutionally broad. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve this issue.…
- 1171 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
For the past twenty or so years information has largely been stored in digital form, providing the current generation of digital natives with access to more and more information in recent years. With this new flow of information available to the public has come increased censoring by the government. However, this is not a new issue as some might believe. Since the first primitive government was established information has been shielded and manipulated from the every day citizens of the world by those in power. The cause fought against information censorship enjoys the same past. For as long as information has been censored there have been those who have fought against it (Newth, 2010). This issue has arisen particularly in the United States, as some believe access to any information that exists is a right protected by the Constitution.…
- 527 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Heart of Atlanta v. United States (1964) - Any business that was participating in interstate commerce would be required to follow all rules of the federal civil rights legislation. In this case, a motel that wanted to continue segregation was denied because they did business with people from other states. This important case represented an immediate challenge to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark piece of civil rights legislation which represented the first comprehensive act by Congress on civil rights and race relations since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. For much of the 100 years preceding 1964, race relations in the United States had been dominated by segregation, a system of racial separation which, while in name providing for "separate but equal" treatment of both white and black Americans, in truth perpetuated inferior accommodation, services, and treatment for black Americans. During the mid-twentieth century, partly as a result of cases such as Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 (1932); Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944); Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948); Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950); McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637 (1950); NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958); Boynton v. Virginia, 364 U.S. 454 (1960) and probably the most famous, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the tide against segregation and white supremacy began to turn. However, black Americans ' fight for equal civil rights was far from over. In particular, the southern United States, where the Heart of Atlanta Motel was located, remained segregated even into the late 1960s.Passed on July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned racial discrimination in public places, particularly in public accommodations, largely based on Congress ' control of interstate commerce.The Heart of Atlanta motel was a large, 216-room motel in Atlanta, Georgia, which refused to rent rooms to black patrons, in direct…
- 834 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The first amendment protects the freedom of speech. This case of Reno v American Civil Liberties Union represents an interesting debate on protection of freedom of speech versus regulation of material which is regarded indecent. The subject matter in this case was the Communication Decency Act against Internet on the issue of indecency. The case compared Internet with Library, Television and Public Place. However, in comparing with these mediums, Internet appears to be slightly, if not majorly, different. It is because, when compared with the television, the internet user might have to go…
- 1767 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Public libraries provide us with a large amount of information. Residents can borrow books from libraries. Libraries also provide Internet access for everyone, including children. Since parents cannot control what then children are seeing on the Internet in libraries, children can access pornographic or violent sites easily. So, public libraries should restrict Internet access by utilizing filtering software to prevent children from seeing those inappropriate sites.…
- 887 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
* The internet is the fastest growing and largest tool for mass communication and information distribution in the world. It can be used to distribute large amounts of information anywhere in the world at any time. The Australian government revealed a plan to put in place a compulsory filter on the internet to prevent access to inappropriate material. In 2011, the people of Australia and its politicians alike have expressed major concerns over this introduction of a censorship, as the vast amount of ethical and practical problems associated with this scheme are triggering the debate. Good morning, my name is Amanda and I strongly oppose the introduction of internet censorship in Australia for multiple reasons.…
- 1036 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
"We should demand that all public schools and libraries install and configure Internet Filters." This statement shows how Jeffery Pollock, a candidate for the 3rd Congressional District seat in Oregon, views the Internet. Unfortunately for him, the one thing that he ranted and raved about was the one thing that gave him an unfair disadvantage in the in the upcoming elections. (Blind Ballots) Cyber Patrol, One of the leading Internet censoring companies and is used in over 17,000 schools in the Untied States, actually blocked his website from potential voters. Needless to say, when Mr. Pollock discovered this injustice, some of his views about Internet censorship changed. But Mr. Pollock isn't the only candidate whose chances of winning are diminished because of Internet censoring software. In Fact, The two leading school censoring products Cyber Patrol and N2H2 Bess, used in over 40,000 schools and school districts across the nation, also blocked millions of people from viewing Pat Casey's website, Mark Greene's website, and over 37 other candidates' campaign homepages. Most of the millions of people blocked from these campaign pages are also blocked from many pages dealing with gynecology, sex education, racism, gambling, ethics, teen parenting, and the list continues. (Blind Ballots)…
- 1583 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
With more and more frequency the newspapers are reporting instances of school children distributing disks of pornographic images which they have downloaded from the net and recently a university student was found to be operating such a site for material. On November 11, an Associated Press release (Phillips,1994) reported that Carnegie Mellon University had decided to block its users from accessing sexually explicit materials through the Internet: the university's president feared that the university could be prosecuted under state pornography laws if it did not control the access. Within the last week Towson State has prevented access to all of the alt.* groups on the Usenet which include alt.binaries.pictures.* which has sexually explicit pictures. Towson State has also included a warning on their home page that there may be pornographic material on the Internet. Pornographic material is not the only material to be found on the net which can raise questions of censorship and control: discussion of racial, political, religious and sexual topics all run the risk of offending someone, somewhere, leading to demands for control of the Internet. The question of censorship may also be raised in some unexpected places: one newsgroup is the rec.humor list, which is a collection of jokes submitted to subscribers. There are straightforwardly rude jokes but others are politically incorrect, focusing on sexual stereotypes, mothers-in-law, women and so on.…
- 2198 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays