NAC Among 20 Plaintiffs Suing U.S. Government Over Web Censorship
The Naturist Action Committee is among twenty nationwide plaintiffs in a major lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of a new federal law that forces libraries to censor constitutionally protected speech online.
The lawsuit, filed on
behalf of the diverse plaintiffs by the American Civil Liberties Union in Philadelphia on March 20, 2001, seeks injunctive and permanent relief from an act of Congress that requires all publicly funded libraries and schools to
install filtering software that blocks certain categories of web sites. Although the law is ostensibly aimed at preventing the delivery of "inapropriate" messages to minors, no one can quite say what might be inappropriate.
Meanwhile, it is quite clear that constitutionally protected speech is being blocked from being delivered, not only to children, but to adults as well. NAC's web site, with its message of body acceptance and political activism,
is blocked by virtually all commercially available blocking software. Sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), the Children's Internet Protection Act (CHIPA) was passed by Congress in December, 2000, as part of the final spending bill of the 106th Congress. President Clinton signed the bill
into law less than a month before the end of his term. CHIPA requires that libraries receiving certain federal funding must install filtering software on all of their Internet access terminals, regardless of whether federal funds
paid for the terminals or the Internet connection. "This is the first time since the development of the local, free public library in the 19th century that the federal government has sought to require censorship in every
single town and hamlet in America," ACLU attorney Chris Hansen said in a prepared statement. Under CHIPA, the chief judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals must now appoint a three-judge panel to hear the case,
consisting of one appellate judge and two district court judges.