While free-speech advocates continue to challenge the constitutionality of Internet filtering mandates, ISU officials said the law will not affect Parks Library.

The Children’s Internet Protection Act, which was enacted into law April 20, requires federally funded libraries and elementary and secondary schools to install filtering devices on computers with Internet access. According to the act, the filtering devices are aimed to prevent children from viewing online obscenity, child pornography and “material deemed harmful to children.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, along with the American Library Association and at least 10 other plaintiffs, filed a complaint and request for an injunction on the Children’s Internet Protection Act March 20. The complaint contends that the act is unconstitutional, because the filtering equipment denies adults access to constitutionally protected material, such as indecency.

The ISU Parks Library will not be affected by the law, said Kristin Gerhard, associate professor at the library, because Parks Library does not receive E-Rate funding. The funding is federal money given to public libraries and schools to reduce costs of providing Internet access.

“It’s really targeted at schools and public libraries that regularly serve children,” she said.

The current filtering devices are flawed, Gerhard said, because the technology cannot distinguish what material is considered inappropriate.

“Basically, you don’t know what’s been filtered; you don’t know who decided what’s been filtered, and users don’t know whether they’ve found everything out there,” she said. “It’s basically a censorship device, and whenever you have censorship, you will have to ask who is deciding what is objectionable and who will be most affected by it.”

Ben Stone, executive director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, said the government should not regulate what an adult chooses to view on the Internet.

“We think individuals in the free society should decide what they see or what they hear,” he said. “It should not be decided by the government, or in this case, some software maker that has some fairly vague idea of what they are going to say is obscene.”

Lorna Truck, a member of the American Library Association, said libraries have other ways besides filtering to prevent children from viewing inappropriate material.

“One thing libraries like to do is encourage people to use the library Web site, which has sites that have been specifically selected for children’s usage, and we ask parents to be mindful of children’s use of the Internet,” said Truck, deputy director of Des Moines Public Libraries. “If they are able to use the Internet with their children, that’s probably the best solution.”