ACLU gives Kern County Ultimatum, tries to bully Austin

[Bob Razer]

Yeah, defenders of the Constitution can be bad news to those who would
like to selectively provide - or not - rights provided by that document.
Attorney Generals and state freedom of information laws are real bullies
too. What's this country coming to? :-) 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Bob Razer                                                               
 Associate Director		    e-mail: rleslie at cals.lib.ar.us 	
 Central Arkansas Library System    fax:    (501) 375-7451               
 100 Rock Street                    voice:  (501) 918-3036               
 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201                                             
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, Filtering Facts wrote:

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