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Article: Perspective on American Library Association v. United States.(Perspectives: Federal Jurisprudence, State Autonomy)
- Article from:
- Albany Law Review
- Article date:
- March 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Albany Law School. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On May 31, 2002, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania decided American Library Ass'n, Inc. v. United States. (1) The decision declared a 2001 measure of the United States Congress known as the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) unconstitutional. (2) Under this act, public libraries that wished to participate in a program denominated "Erate"--under which libraries get subsidies for Internet access, or get aid under the Federal Museum and Library Services Act for purchasing computers--had to install filtering-software. The purpose of such software was to ensure that library patrons could not, when using the Internet, ...