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s media watchdog Gay and Les
bian Alliance Against Defama
tion was preparing to issue its
updated report on the impact
Internet filtering products have
on gay and lesbian electronic resources— a
report that says right-wing groups are leading
the push to filter public terminals— commis
sioners in a small Texas county were voting to
limit Net access at their public libraries.
The commissioners court in Montgomery
County, north of Houston, decided in mid-
March to filter the Internet after reviewing
information provided by a group called Adults
Helping Out Children.
A D H O C is made up of members of the
Republican Leadership Council, the Christian
Coalition and other right-wing groups.
“We think the Internet is a somewhat defec
tive product that needs to be fixed up, and the
fix is filtering,” says A D H O C President William
Elmer.
The Montgomery County decision stands in
contrast, however, to a recent failed ballot ini
tiative to filter the Net at libraries in Holland,
Mich.— evidence that the issue continues to be
divisive.
Yet the subject is one about which Congress
and the U.S. Supreme Court have already spo
ken.
Despite being advised against the move by
the library advisory board, the librarian and the
county attorney, Montgomery County commis
sioners voted to require publicly accessible
Internet terminals at the county’s libraries to fil
ter out obscene and pornographic material.
County Judge Alan Sadler, who presides over
the comissioners court, said he does not think
filtering violates the First Amendment rights of
citizens.
“We do not believe taxpayers are obliged to
pay for patently obscene or pornographic mate
rials to be made available in our libraries—
whether in published or electronic form,” he
said. “We do not wish to deny anyone’s right to
free speech, their access to knowledge or their
research needs. We have not done so."
While A D H O C is concerned, according to
Elmer, with the flawed nature of the Internet, it
is the flawed nature of filtering software that
concerns G LA A D .
Some Internet filtering software sifts out gay
and lesbian resources that are not pornographic,
meaning information that could be valuable to
people questioning their orientation would not
be available from terminals equipped with those
types of filtering software.
“We just have not found filtering software
that doesn’t filter out some good resources and
support information,” explains Loren Javier,
G L A A D ’s digital media director.
F ractious
F iltering
Infernet filters that
block sites with gay
content continue to be
a hot-button issue
by Gip Plaster
For that reason, G LA A D does not favor fil African Americans; and the personal site of a
tering at places such as libraries and questions
reporter for gay and lesbian newspapers.
The case is still pending, but the A C LU has
whether it should be used in homes.
made
clear its opposition to what it calls “cen-
“G LA A D is opposed to filtering in public
institutions,” Javier says. "In private homes, we sorware” programs. Filters are a particular threat
to the gay and lesbian community, says A C LU
want parents to he educated about what they are
spokesman Eric Ferrero.
installing.”
“Increasingly, people are turning to the
Most filtering programs keep their lists of
Internet for support and information as they
blocked sites secret from everyone, including
grapple with coming-out issues. Censorware
the software’s users and the owners of the
programs often block Web sites that can offer
blocked sites, but at least one company’s list has
potentially life-saving support and information,”
been compromised.
The American Civil Liberties Union is rep he says.
The A C LU was also involved in a 1998 Vir
resenting three Americans who own Internet
ginia case in which a dis
sites that include so-
trict judge ruled that
called “mirrors," or copies,
" Increasingly ; people are turning
forcing adults to use
of the decoded secret list
of sites blocked by popular
to the Internet for support and blocking software in pub
lic libraries “offends the
filter Cyber Patrol.
information
as
they
grapple
with
guarantee of free speech."
The information was
The U .S. Supreme
decoded by people outside
coming-out issues. Censorware
Court had already ruled,
the United States who
programs often block Web sites in 1997, that communi
have settled suits with
cations on the Internet
Cyber Patrol and agreed
that can offer potentially life
couldn’t be limited to
to give the company the
copyright to the decoded saving support and information. " what is suitable for chil
dren.
information.
— ACLU spokesman Eric Ferrero
Congress had its say,
Cyber Patrol’s lawyers
too, striking down the
have tried to use those
Communications Decen
settlements in its legal
cy Act.
proceedings against the
G LA A D is also con
three A C LU clients, but
cerned that efforts to fil
the civil rights organiza
ter the Internet are coming from conservative
tion has argued that new legal proceedings are
and sometimes anti-gay groups.
necessary.
The Holland, Mich., vote against Internet
Among the sites blocked by Cyber Patrol,
filtering demonstrates that not all conservative
according to information provided by the
voters want filtering software in public libraries,
A C LU , are those belonging to Gay.net, an
interactive site that also carries news and infor according to Karen Schneider of the Shenede-
mation; the Sexuality Information and Educa howa Public Library in New York.
“The intense push for filtering is being
tion Council of the U .S.; BLK.com, for gay
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orchestrated by conservative political groups
like the Family Research Council and the
American Family Association,” she says. “In
fact, Holland’s pro-filtering initiative was
bankrolled by the American Family Association
to the tune of more than $40,000.”
Whether the filtering system in Montgomery
County will limit access to nonpomographic gay
and lesbian sites is still unclear.
County library director Jerrilynn Williams
said there was no mention of gay and lesbian
matters during any of the discussions of the
issue. She said the concern was with children
accessing pornography.
And Farley Stewart, chief executive officer
of Internet Products, says the county will have
to go out of its way to block gay sites.
Internet Products makes iPrism, the device
the county will use for filtering. The device
looks similar to a modem or a router, Stewart
says, that is attached to the computer network
server. It is the only Internet filtering product
that is a device rather than software.
The iPrism blocks only by URL, a method
sometimes preferred over less efficient keyword
blocking. Users can choose to block or monitor
certain categories.
Most gay and lesbian sites are included in the
“social issues” category— the same as sites on
euthanasia and gun control. If the user decides
to turn on blocking for that category, all social
issues sites would be blocked.
Users can also add a list of individual sites
they want to block.
Stewart says electronic “robots” seek out cat
egorized sites, but a person reviews each site
before determining whether it should be
blocked. He notes that gay and lesbian sites that
contain nudity, for example, will be cross-refer
enced in the nudity category, which will likely
be blocked by the user.
“These products are never going to be IOC
percent perfect on either side of the equation,”
he says. “What we’re hoping to do here is pro
vide more access by providing finer granularity.”
The iPrism device was first sold in late 1999
and is now in use in fewer than a dozen libraries,
Stewart says.
Elmer would not say whether he thinks gay
and lesbian sites should be blocked.
“I’d kind of circle around your question to say
that anything related to a community on the
Internet— rights should not be taken away from
that community,” he says. “We’re concerned
about smut, pornography and obscenity.”
■ G lP PLASTER writes far dozens of gay and lesbian
newspapers and magazines. He also maintains a list
o f gay publications at www.gayscribe.com. He lues
in Fort Worth, Texas, with his partner, David.
Jerry and
Paul Poirier
Sales Associates
Sean, the Poiriers are proud to
( 503 ) 284-7755
belong to Portland’s extended family.
pager 909-4964 • e-mail jerrypoirier@aol.com
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