An informal survey across Rhode Island shows libraries have different standards for the use of blocking software on their Internet connections.

10:56 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 20, 2005

BY GERALD M. CARBONE
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- One day at the main public library, Amy Myrick logged onto an Internet search engine and typed the word "nudism."

The library's computer blocked that search. As the program and development coordinator for the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, Myrick knew that a recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court allowed her to demand that the library remove that block.

Myrick asked a librarian to remove the block so she could look at Web sites about nudism; the librarian refused.

"She insinuated that I was looking at porn," Myrick said. "I felt judged."

In fact, Myrick did not want to look at pornography that day, nor was she researching a summer sojourn at a nudist camp. She was conducting a study on how Rhode Island's public libraries are dealing with the federal Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA).

What she found, Myrick wrote in a report made public yesterday, "presents a mixed, but surprisingly troubling, picture."

Dale Thompson, director of the Providence Public Library, has called a staff meeting for tomorrow to discuss Myrick's report. Thompson acknowledged that even as director she was not sure how the state's largest public library is enforcing the CIPA.

"I really can't comment because at this point I don't have the understanding of how [CIPA] works, what it is we're doing," Thompson said.

Congress passed CIPA in 2001, requiring libraries that receive federal funds to install software that would block access to objectionable Web pages. Immediate legal challenges stalled the law's adoption. A federal court in Philadelphia ruled that the requirement violated the First Amendment by prohibiting adults from seeing material that is legal for adults to view.

The Supreme Court reversed that decision on a 6-3 vote. The law contains a provision that allows adults to ask that the blocking software be turned off "for bona fide research or other lawful purposes." The majority wrote that this clause allowed the law to pass constitutional muster.

In July 2004, libraries nationwide began using the blocking software. Most of Rhode Island's 48 public library systems share the CLAN (Cooperating Libraries Automated Network) system. The CLAN libraries agreed to use one blocking filter supplied by a company called Websense.

The Websense software allows libraries to choose three blocking settings: one that complies with the CIPA by blocking access to sites that show or graphically describe sex; another setting that blocks displays not only overt sex but all erotica; and a setting that blocks all images of nude or seminude people.

Myrick found that Rhode Island libraries have not been consistent in their settings: while nudism was banned in Providence, she could read about it online in East Providence.

She also found that libraries have no standard for notifying adults of their right to turn off the blocking software. North Scituate's library posts a sign saying: "If you are at least 17 years old and would like a site unblocked, just ask." In Coventry, patrons are told "If you are unable to access a Web site, please see a librarian."

Some libraries, such as Providence's, do not notify patrons of their right to remove the block.

Myrick recommended that CLAN system libraries standardize their settings to block the minimum amount of material as required by law; and that the public libraries notify their patrons that adults may request removal of the blocking software before they begin to use the Internet.

David Macksam, director of the Cranston Public Library said, "I think it's something that CLAN needs to look at."

CLAN Chairwoman Kathryn Taylor, director of the Westerly Public Library, said she has not read the report but is open to discussing the issues it raised.