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Report Documents Internet Censorship in RI Public Libraries

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Reader’s Block: Internet Censorship in Rhode Island Public Libraries, A Report prepared by the Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union, April 2005.

  • “For eight years, the ACLU in Rhode Island has been studying public library response in the state to the introduction of the Internet as an information tool. On one level, it is clear that libraries have whole-heartedly embraced it; computers hooked up to the Internet for patrons’ use are ubiquitous in the library setting. But on another much more troubling level, libraries have
    concomitantly taken on a new role: that of censor. This is due, in part, to a federal law that took effect last year, the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). CIPA requires libraries that want to continue to receive federal
    funding to employ technology that blocks a wide range of information from being accessed over the Internet. But a new survey conducted by the ACLU shows that public libraries in Rhode Island are, in some respects, going beyond the federal law’s mandates, and inappropriately discouraging or barring patron access to constitutionally protected material.”
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