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Your local library wants to keep the Web open for you to surf.

The executive board of the American Library Association (ALA) voted Wednesday to file suit over a law enacted in December that requires content filters on computers. The law says libraries and schools that receive money through certain federal funding programs have to install filters on computers used by kids to surf the Web.

The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), signed into law on December 21, is unconstitutional and creates an infringement of First Amendment protections, the ALA says in a statement issued after the executive board voted to challenge CIPA in court.

Subjective Filters

No filtering software successfully differentiates constitutionally protected speech from illegal speech on the Internet, the ALA says. The ALA also cites a federal commission that studied child safety on the Internet last year. It concluded that filters are not effective in blocking all objectionable content but do block much useful and constitutionally protected information.

The CIPA legislation differs from the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which took effect last spring. Designed to protect children's personal information, that statute puts the onus on Web sites to implement privacy policies for children who access the site and to require parental permission for certain transactions.

The American Library Association has not said when it will file its suit.

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