Internet obscenity and local funding

Citation

Fitzsimons, E. (2000), "Internet obscenity and local funding", The Bottom Line, Vol. 13 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.2000.17013aab.004

Internet obscenity and local funding

Keywords Library users, Children, Internet, Local government

In spite of an ultimatum they had issued in August, Collin County (Texas) commissioners voted on September 1 not to withhold the last $32,500 installment in this year's budget to county libraries that do not block obscenity from their public Internet workstations. However, what will happen next year is still unknown. The commissioners have requested acceptable-use policies from all eight systems in the county.

County Judge and commission member Ron Harris emphasized that the county needs to devise a library-funding plan that can withstand a court challenge and pointed out that nothing is accomplished by punitive withholding of funds.

A bill requiring all public and private schools in Wisconsin that receive state technology subsidies to install filtering software on Internet-accessible computers was passed by the Wisconsin state assembly on October 6, with lawmakers voting 150 to 23 in favor of the bill. The Wisconsin Library Association intends to fight the bill, AB 266, in the state senate, according to Doug Baker, chair of the group's legislative committee and director of the Kenosha Public Library. "We feel our opposition to this bill will receive a positive reception in the Senate", he said, adding that Wisconsin has a Republican assembly and a Democratic senate.