Libraries to get Internet filters

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH--Library trustees got quite a surprise while searching

the Internet this week.

When they checked for pictures of vegetables online, they ended up

finding pornographic Web sites.

After keywords such as Aphrodite and Barbie also led them to

sex-related sites, the four board members didn’t have to think long

before voting unanimously to buy Internet filters for 14 children’s

computers--reserved for students through sixth grade--in the city’s

public libraries. The software will not affect about 60 other library

computers with Internet access.

Trustees chose a filter called “Bess” that is used in 36% of the

nation’s school libraries. The program costs more than two other

alternatives reviewed by library officials. After a one-time fee of

$2,995, the city will pay $1,440 annually.

Unlike its competitors, Bess filters Web sites in foreign languages

and redirects users to an education-oriented search engine. City

officials could not say how long it would take to install the software.

The child-safety program has long been a contentious issue across the

nation, leading to lawsuits from both ends of the spectrum.

In Loudoun, Va., a group sued the city’s public libraries for

installing Internet filters. In the Northern California community of

Livermore, a mother sued city officials for exposing her son to Internet

pornography on its library computers.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has restricted Internet

access for four years, said Alan Engard, the district’s director of

information technology.

While the district also uses a subscription-based “firewall” for its

3,000 computers with Internet access, the system doesn’t offer children

alternative Web sites, only directing them to try another search.

In Newport Beach, the city so far has held parents responsible for

monitoring their children’s online Web surfing.

“As with other materials, parents and guardians of children--not the

library--are responsible for their children’s use of the Internet,” a

section of the City Council’s policy manual states.

And since no filtering system is guaranteed to block out every

pornographic site, that is not really going to change.

“We will do what we can, but we can’t do it all,” said library trustee

Julie Ryan, adding that parents still have to decide what they want their

children to see.

Although trustees have discussed the issue before, recent federal

legislation prompted the board to revisit the idea.

In December, Congress approved the Children’s Internet Protection Act,

which requires libraries to introduce safety measures that block material

seen as “harmful for minors” in order to receive discounted Internet

access or funds to buy computers.

The American Library Assn. filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the new

law, arguing that it restricts access to information protected under the

U.S. Constitution.

Since the city’s public libraries don’t rely on federal funds,

complying with the law wasn’t the issue. But deferring to the values of

Newport Beach residents, trustees said filters seemed appropriate.

“You type in Bambi and end up with something that didn’t involve Bambi

at all,” said Patrick Bartolic, chairman of the library board of

trustees.

He said the control that librarians had over content in the

pre--Internet era has disappeared.

“By having [World Wide] Web access in the library, it brings in all

kinds of things,” Bartolic said.

Although library officials said they have not heard any complaints

about the unrestricted access now available, trustees asked for a report

on the filters in six months.