THE ACLU'S SLAPP AT LIBRARIANS

[filteringfacts]

THE ACLU'S SLAPP AT LIBRARIANS 
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SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. SLAPP is a strategy of intimidation usually employed by corporations and government agencies. While most SLAPPs are legally meritless, they effectively achieve their principal purpose: to force an individual or organization to pursue or not pursue a specific course of action and to stifle public debate on specific issues. Defending a SLAPP requires substantial money, time, and legal resources and thus diverts the defendant's attention away from the public issue. Equally important, however, a SLAPP also sends a message to others: you, too, can be sued if you try to exercise your rights, too. 

The recent actions of the American Civil Liberties Union are strongly suggestive of a SLAPP style campaign being employed against public libraries that install filtering software. There is also strong evidence that Intellectual Freedom activists from the American Library Association are helping to support these efforts. 

>From around the country, there are confirmed instances of the ACLU threatening expensive lawsuits against libraries that filter. The Massachusetts chapter of the ACLU recently said they were "strongly considering a challenge"to the Boston Public Library's decision to filter. (ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update, Feb. 20, 1997) The Florida chapter of ACLU recently said they "would probably file a suit" against the Orange County (FL) Public Library, which also implemented filters (ACLU News, Jan. 9, 1997) . After a bill to mandate filtering software for Ohio libraries was defeated in the Ohio Senate, the Ohio ACLU said it "will direct its attention to rules written by individual library systems that may unconstitutionally limit First Amendment rights". (ACLU News, May 21, 1997) 

ALA stated in their Resolution on the Use of Filtering Software in Libraries that "The use in libraries of software filters which block Constitutionally protected speech is inconsistent with the United States Constitution and federal law and may lead to legal exposure for the library and its governing authorities". Librarians from around the country have reported to Filtering Facts that ALA anti-filtering spokespersons are going around to librarian conferences and workshops warning librarians about the legal consequences of filtering. These speakers usually emphasize the expensive costs a library will have to bear of defending itself from the lawsuits. Many of these ALA spokespeople also have standing ties to the ACLU, strongly suggestive of tacit cooperation in the SLAPP campaign. 

The relationship of the ACLU and the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom is a long and close one. For decades, the two organizations have worked closely in pursuing legal actions. Judith Krug, head of ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom is a former board member of the ACLU. ALA intellectual freedom activist Deborah Jacobs is a current ACLU board member. 

ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom recently sponsored a training institute for activist lawyers. A recent article in the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom Action News, "LAWYERS FOR LIBRARIES: A TRAINING INSTITUTE", reported that "On May 16-17, the Office for Intellectual Freedom sponsored Lawyers for Libraries: A Training Institute for some 50 participants... This institute trained attorneys from around the country. These attorneys will form the core of an ongoing, national legal services effort..". A key focus of the training was "the use of filtering software in libraries". 

The purpose of the American Library Association is to help libraries, not encourage intimidation tactics. ALA must renounce spokespeople who encourage SLAPP tactics against libraries. ALA cannot pretend to take a neutral stance to the threatened ACLU lawsuits. ALA must come to the defense of libraries and denounce the ACLU's SLAPP campaign against its own members. If the ACLU proceeds with lawsuits against ALA member libraries, ALA should sever its ties with the ACLU.