Phoenix Officials, Challenging CIPA, Vote to Keep Filters On

-- Library Journal, 09/10/2004

Despite an agenda item that indicated that the Phoenix Public Library (PPL) is following the Supreme Court's Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) decision that gives adults the option of unfiltered Internet access, the Phoenix City Council voted unanimously September 8 to "eliminat[e] the library users' option of disengaging the filter for pornography." This sets up an almost inevitable court challenge. Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, told the Arizona Republic, "We've heard from people who are concerned about this. We have several possible plaintiffs." Vice Mayor Peggy Bilsten commented, "I am willing to take this to court." The vote came after a local man who was arrested told police he had downloaded child pornography at the library.

PPL Director Toni Garvey, whom the newspaper described as "visibly upset," later issued a statement saying she "will of course follow the direction of (the) City Council to make Internet use at the Phoenix Public Library safe and enjoyable for all of our families and citizens." City Councilman Tom Simplot told the newspaper that he hoped a filter would soon be available that would "block only pornographic material." However, as the agenda item stated, "There is not a filtering product that blocks illegal content--obscenity and child pornography--and only illegal content. All filters over block and under block; they sometimes block access to non-pornographic content and fail to block access to sites that should be blocked."