Colorado Library to Scrap Children's Filter for Limited Database

Staff -- Library Journal, 1/4/1999

Following a vote by the Englewood City Council, the Englewood Public Library, CO, will in April take Cyber Patrol software off computers in the children's room and instead install software that can limit children to a database of 5000 kid-friendly sites, the Denver Post reports, December 30. Parents will have the option to allow their children full or limited Internet access. The GuardiaNet software serves as a sort of reverse filter, as it does not actively block sites but instead allows access to only a small number of sites -- a process that offers more precision than typical filters but also obviously limits access to even more sites. While the Englewood library board recommended against the contract with GuardiaNet, it was overruled by the city council. The Post reported that the contract was valued at $108,000, though that seemingly high figure could not be confirmed with the library.