Congress Revives Internet Filters

Staff -- School Library Journal, 7/1/2000

U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook Jr. (R-OK) is trying yet again to make school libraries put filtering software on Internet terminals. In an amendment to the current Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill, Istook would require schools to use "technology which filters or blocks material that is obscene, child pornography, and material harmful to minors." If schools did not use the filters, they'd be denied Title III funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The amendment was passed in committee by a voice vote.

In the last few years, Congress has passed several types of filtering mandates. None, however, has made it into law.