TITLE
Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, requiring annual verification that all libraries under the umbrella of the Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA) have implemented a policy on Internet and computer use that is in compliance with all Federal, State and Local laws; requiring an annual review of filtering software utilized by the Electronic Information Network (eiNetwork) to comply with Federal, State and Local laws; requiring annual reports by each library of incidents in which the federal and state laws concerning the use of the computers and network are violated and how such violations were handled; establishing a public education component in cooperation with County agencies; and, further, providing that non-compliance with these provisions will result in the suspension of County funding of the eiNetwork.
BODY
WHEREAS, the Federal Children's Internal Protection Act (CIPA) mandates that libraries must certify that filtering software is being used to prevent on-screen depictions of obscenity, child pornography, or material that is harmful to minors in order to receive federal funding; however, adults may request that a librarian disable the filters; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is one of twenty-one states that have adopted provisions similar to CIPA; specifically, Pennsylvania law requires libraries to adopt policies regarding access by minors to the Internet and online sites that may contain explicit material as defined in the Criminal Code in order to receive state funding; and
WHEREAS, the Allegheny County Library Association serves as a conduit for County funding to the Electronic Information Network (eiNetwork) which is utilized in libraries throughout the County; the eiNetwork established a policy in May of 2004 providing for the use of a filtering software package in ACLA member libraries that complies with CIPA requirements that has installed the package on all computers in the network; and
WHEREAS,...
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