June 22, 2004
Lotso State Filtering Laws
If you haven't seen this yet, you should check it out to see if your state has laws IN ADDITION to CIPA that you have to pay attention to.....
The National Conference of State Legislatures has put up a site called Children and the Internet: Laws Relating to Filtering, Blocking and Usage Policies in Schools and Libraries.
Per this site, there are laws on the books in 13 states that apply to libraries including: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Texas.
Most of the rules seem to reinforce the CIPA rules insofar as they require installing something to prevent children from viewing obscene images. But some of the states use broader language such as "sexually explicit material" or "pornography" in place of "obscenity". This means blocking a lot more content than you are required to block for CIPA.
So be sure to check out what your state has on the books when you configure your filter. It would be a shame to go to all the trouble of figuring out how to minimally comply with CIPA -- which isn't easy -- and then get in trouble with a state law.
[Found this site on WebJunction in their CIPA and Filtering area under Additional Resources]
Posted by Lori at 8:50 AM | Permalink