Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Internet-Filter Law

By Mark Walsh

Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to consider the constitutionality of a federal law that requires public libraries receiving federal technology funds to block pornographic Web sites.

The law at issue in the case, the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000, or CIPA, also applies to schools receiving E-rate or other federal technology funding. But the case before the high court does not challenge the law with regard to computers in classrooms or school libraries. Public and private schools receiving federal technology funds must adopt plans that include the installation of blocking software to protect children from sexually explicit Web sites.

A special three-judge federal trial court in Philadelphia on May 31 struck down the law as it applied to public libraries. That court ruled unanimously that the statute violated the First Amendment free-speech rights of library patrons because software-filtering programs often block Web...