Internet Filtering in Public Libraries

Click here to read an article in The New York Times, Westchester edition, about the Mahopac (New York) Public Library that is considering the use of Internet filters to limit access to pornography sites. The Mahopac Library is taking this step after two incidents in one month involving library public-access computers. The first incident involved a fourteen-year-old girl who communicated with an older man via chat rooms she accessed at a library computer. The second incident involved a male patron who downloaded images of child pornography while using a library computer. My colleague, Professor Bennett Gershman, is quoted in the article warning that "filters can...inadvertently curb access to areas of legitimate research that are protected under the First Amendment." I would not consider installing Internet filters at my library, but that is an easy decision to make--all of my patrons are adults, and I do not think it is right to limit what they can view any more than I believe in censoring what they can read. The decision would be a lot more complicated if my patrons included minors. As Professor Gershman says, "'Filters can remove a certain amount of information from the larger realm of knowledge that adults may want access to and that is protected under the First Amendment. How far do you go? It's a fine line.'"