Woman Sues Broward Library Over Internet Access

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/14/2000

A local activist has sued the Broward County Library (BCL), Fort Lauderdale, FL, stating that the library's policy of unfiltered access allows users "to access illegal obscenity" and "to masturbate themselves in view of other persons, including minors," among other allegations. Plaintiff Jodi Hoffman, who co-directs Restore America's Moral Pride (R.A.M.P.), also says in her self-filed lawsuit that the libraries "have been and are now the resort of lewd, immoral, and dissolute men and boys" and asks that the Internet computers be strictly supervised and that filters be installed to allow text-only access to the Internet, among other things. BCL's Kathleen Imhoff said, "We can't comment because it's pending litigation." Hoffman previously settled a lawsuit with the Broward County School Board regarding sex education; the board agreed to remind teachers of the importance of teaching abstinence and deleted material on abortion.