CA's Kern County Library Eases Filter Plan After ACLU Threatens Suit

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/2/1998

Threatened by a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Kern County Library, Bakersfield, CA, has agreed to offer "patron driven" Internet access, adding unfiltered terminals to supplement and partially replace existing filtered terminals. In a letter sent January 21, ACLU attorney Ann Beeson asked the library to remove the filters (from some 50 terminals), noting that the library board had repeatedly asked N2H2, maker of the BESS filter, to block access only to "harmful [to minors] material" defined under California law but that the company could not make such distinctions. On January 27, with potential legal costs of up to $80,000 looming, county supervisors voted to provide unfiltered access, spending $40,000 to add new computers at the 18 branches that had only one terminal, according to the Bakersfield Californian. While minors will be allowed to use unfiltered terminals, librarians and other staffers will monitor them to make sure they don't access pornography.