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Pennsylvania House OKs
Filtering Requirement

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted 177–15 in favor of a bill requiring public libraries to install state-approved filtering software on November 14; the bill now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

Proponents said the bill, sponsored by Rep. Allan Egolf (R-Cumberland), will ensure that libraries don’t become “public peep shows” or havens for predators, according to the November 15 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

But critics said the bill infringes on local library boards’ control. “My library is certainly not the Sodom and Gomorrah as described,” said Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware). “The local people should be deciding what our local standards should be.”

The bill mandates that Internet access polices and software must be reviewed by the state attorney general and approved by the state Department of Education. The American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill, but attempts to return it to committee failed.

Posted November 20, 2000.

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