Politics & Government

Library Internet Filters May Be Tightened, Attorney Says

Advocate blogs about ethics complaint he says he sent because the Montville Library Board's attorney is giving 'false legal advice' on restricting pornography.

The attorney for the Montville Township Public Library Board and a retired attorney who advocates for informing libraries they may block pornography on their computers offer different advice on whether public libraries must turn off Internet filters at an adult patron's request.

But a recent situation in which a man viewed pornography on a township library computer did not hinge on the filter being turned off at his request, board attorney Ann Grossi said Wednesday. He simply got around the filter that's already in place.

The library board's technology committee is looking at ways to strengthen the filter as one of the ways the board may address the issue, she said.

Find out what's happening in Montvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Grossi advises that the filter be turned off if requested, and points to a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Children's Internet Protection Act, a federal law requiring Internet filters for libraries that receive federal funding. Some justices noted the law is constitutional because the filters easily can be removed if someone asks.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "If some libraries do not have the capacity to unblock specific Web sites or to disable the filter or if it is shown that an adult user's election to view constitutionally protected Internet material is burdened in some other substantial way, that would be the subject for an as-applied challenge."

Find out what's happening in Montvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The American Library Association cites that opinion to conclude, "There is no doubt, therefore, that libraries that refuse to disable filters at the request of an adult patron or that impose substantial burdens on a patron's ability to have the filter disabled risk an individual litigation in which the library will be a defendant."

Dan Kleinman, the retired attorney and Chatham resident who maintains the blog SafeLibraries, alleges in a blog post Grossi is "providing false legal opinions" and says he sent an ethics complaint for that reason.

He wrote,

 Only Ann Grossi stands in the way of legally ridding these libraries of Internet pornography.  Ann Grossi accomplishes this by providing false legal opinions and by not providing accurate information that would support the libraries ability to block porn and keep it blocked even after a request to unblock and the municipalities ability to prepare for liability that sometimes results from Internet pornography in public libraries.  Libraries and municipalities have been successfully sued for sexual harassment arising out of the failure to filter out pornography, but Ann Grossi fails to advise of this.

Correction: A previous version of this story reported Dan Kleinman's name incorrectly. It also was updated to say Kleinman advocates for informing libraries about their ability to block pornography, instead of advocates for libraries blocking pornography.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here