Legislative Committee

ILA’s Position on Internet Filtering

The Idaho Library Association believes that individual public libraries and their governing boards are best equipped to set an internet policy regulating appropriate use at their library. Public libraries and their governing boards create and adopt internet policies that reflect local values and these policies are revised in response to input from local citizens at open board meetings. The Idaho Library Association acknowledges that filters are imperfect and may not block inappropriate content as well as block legitimate content. We believe that individual Idaho public libraries are best equipped to develop and set internet policies that will best serve their communities.

The Idaho Library Association was happy to reach a compromise with the Idaho Legislature regarding House Bill 205 – Public Libraries Internet Filtering Bill. According to the bill, all Idaho public libraries will be required to utilize internet filtering for minors’ internet access, but public libraries retain the ability to disable the filters for lawful internet use and are given the choice to decide whether or not to filter for adults. We believe that this compromise has presented a workable solution for most Idaho public libraries and allowed us to retain local control over the decision to filter for adults as well as flexibility when assisting children.

Sincerely,

Natalie Nation and Becca Stroebel, 2011 Legislative Co-Chairs