Virginia Passes Own Version of CIPA

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By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 03/27/2007

Virginia’s Governor Tim Kaine recently signed a bill requiring public libraries to install Internet filters on all computers or otherwise forfeit state funding. The goal of the new law—to block pornography and obscene materials that are harmful to minors—tightens an existing law, which just mandated libraries to adopt Internet-use policies.

More than 20 states including New York, California, and Texas have Internet laws that mostly require public schools or libraries to adopt Internet-use policies, says Pam Greenberg, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan organization that tracks legislation. But Virginia and Utah are so far the only two states that prohibit libraries from receiving state funds unless they install filtering software.

The laws in Virginia and Utah are based on the 2000 Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a federal law that forces libraries to install filtering software or lose crucial funding from the Library Services and Technology Act and the e-rate program, which provides technology discounts to schools and public libraries. Virginia’s bill provides $190,000 to help pay for the installation of library filters.

Passage of the Virginia law, which takes effect July 1, was a huge victory for The Family Foundation, a conservative nonprofit organization that has lobbied hard for filters on library computers. “We wanted to make sure that children wouldn’t be exposed to obscene materials or sexual predators from a library terminal,” says Victoria Cobb, the foundation's president . The bill includes a provision that allows adults to request that filters be disabled for legitimate research.

Elizabeth Speigle, assistant director of the Newport News Public Library System in Virginia, says child patrons already use filters on the library's computers unless they have permission from a parent or guardian to have them disabled. Currently, about half of the state's 95 library systems use filters, and most are expected to comply with the law, says Chris Freund, a Family Foundation spokesperson.