Preparing for a World With CIPA

If you have questions about the Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), you're not alone. The American Library Association (ALA) is preparing a "strategic document," essentially a continually updated Web page, to explain issues ranging from the law's legal implications and various filtering software to what to expect from the Federal Communications Commission and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, two agencies that oversee federal tech grants to libraries that comply with the law.

Following the court's June 23 ruling, ALA posted an FAQ page on its Web site (www.ala.org/cipa) strictly to explain the decision, which requires that all public libraries install anti-pornography Internet filters or risk losing federal funding. The strategic document, scheduled to launch in late July, brings together information from ALA's Executive Board, its Office for Intellectual Freedom, and its Committee on Legislation, to help librarians better understand the ruling and to provide the necessary steps to follow its requirements, says Fred Weingarten, ALA's director of the Office for Information Technology Policy. The new document will immediately address deadlines for installing filtering software, so libraries can still receive uninterrupted e-rate and Library Services and Technology Act grants.

ALA unexpectedly cancelled an August 14 meeting with a dozen Internet filtering software companies, saying it will instead hold an August 23rd gathering of its leaders to discuss "how best to communicate with the filtering companies and what role the association should play in this area." Emily Sheketoff, executive director of ALA's Washington office, says a similar meeting with Internet filtering software companies took place in 1999, but librarians failed to uncover each vendor's database of blocked sites and the criteria for blocking. Most companies are reluctant to give that information to their competitors.