ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 56 Month day, 2000 In this issue: Filtering Amendment Pending in Senate Urgent Action Needed before Monday afternoon, June 26: Library supporters should call their Senators and urge them to oppose McCain's filtering amendment (No. 3610) to the Labor-HHS- Education appropriations bill (H.R. 4577) before Monday afternoon, June 26. Background: Late on Thursday, June 22, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced as an amendment to the Labor, Health & Human Service and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 4577) a provision very similar to his freestanding filtering bill (S. 97). His amendment, which also goes by the name Children's Internet Protection Act, would require libraries receiving E-rate discounts to install on all computers a technology that blocks or filters child pornography, obscenity and "any other material that the library determines to be inappropriate for minors." It also requires libraries and schools to certify to the Federal Communications Commission that they are enforcing a policy that ensures the use of such technology when a child uses the computer. There are very similar provisions for schools receiving E-rate discounts. The Senate has adjourned for the weekend, but will be back in session on Monday. The Labor-HHS-Education bill is likely to be taken up again around 3:00 p.m. It is unclear in what order amendments will be taken. Many of the amendments that are pending on this bill will face a tough battle to even be considered because they may not be considered germane or relevant to this spending measure. Unfortunately, because the House has already included a filtering amendment in the bill, McCain's amendment is automatically considered germane and will require only a simple majority to be included in the bill. ALA is seeking an alternative measure that would protect the First Amendment rights of library patrons and the decision-making ability of local libraries. As soon as we are able to supply library supporters with details and an amendment number so they may ask for support, an additional ALAWON will be posted. Talking Points: The following are ideas to use in talking with Senate offices about objections to the McCain amendment. Please also share information about how your local library has confronted and handled the issue of child safety on the Internet. * The amendment tramples on the local decision making responsibilities and capabilities of local libraries and library boards. * It does not allow for any other means (including family education and future technological advances) to ensure that children have safe, positive experiences on the Internet. * Filters are not able to make true decisions at all, much less decisions based on community standards which are the basis for obscenity definitions. * McCain's amendment will have the most profound effect on those libraries who need E-rate discounts the most. Low-income, poverty stricken libraries will not have the resources to implement filtering and comply with the certification requirement. * Filtering provides a false since of security. No filter is able to block all materials that all communities may deem inappropriate for minors. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley.