ACLU gives Kern County Ultimatum, tries to bully Austin

[Filtering Facts]

The ACLU extortionists are at again:

http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,18332,00.html

ACLU threatens suit on Net
                filters 
                By Courtney Macavinta
                January 21, 1998, 1:15 p.m. PT 

                The American Civil Liberties Union has given a
                Southern California library system ten days to
                remove Net filtering software from its computers or
                risk being slammed with a lawsuit.

And from the ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES UPDATE
JANUARY 19, 1998

City of Austin Stalls Response on ACLU Information Request Despite AG
Order

Even after receiving an opinion from the Texas Attorney General's
Office, the City of Austin has yet to fully comply with a request made
under the state open records law by the ACLU for copies of documents
related to the City's installation of blocking software on Internet
access terminals in the public libraries.

The ACLU believes that the use of filtering software in libraries
violates the First Amendment, because it blocks access to a wide range
of valuable and constitutionally protected sites. 

"Filtering software is particularly problematic because it is unreliable
and often blocks a much wider spectrum of speech than legally obscene
speech, including speech about women's health, safe sex and other
valuable information," ACLU Staff Attorney Ann Beeson said. "We would
like to review the complaints filed by patrons to ensure that their free
speech rights are being protected."

In an opinion letter dated December 29, the Texas Attorney General
informed the City law department that the records must be disclosed to
the ACLU.

Under the Texas Open Records Act, the government must comply with a
request for public records within ten days.  The city released some of
the documents to the ACLU in redacted form on Jan. 13, but did not fully
comply, saying that other documents were being withheld pending an
appeal by the City to the Attorney General for reconsideration of the
opinion requiring full disclosure. 

"The Supreme Court in Reno v. ACLU held that the Internet, as much as
the books and newspapers found in our public libraries, is entitled to
the very highest level of First Amendment protection," Beeson said.
                
                

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David Burt, Filtering Facts, HTTP://WWW.FILTERINGFACTS.ORG
David_Burt at filteringfacts.org