In light of the recent decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the Children's Internet Protection Act, I thought it timely to give the porn filter at my local library a test drive. And here is what I found.

I began by pulling up the front page of my own web site, which does not appear to be blocked. Then, using Google , I typed in the key word 'sex.' (Much of the concern by Congress seems to be about children's access to 'obscene' or sexually-explicit material.)

Sex

This turned up the Texas Department of Public and Safety/Crime Records Service (unblocked) and SEX.COM (blocked). It's good to know that both children and adults have access to the Texas sex offender database and to customers who purchase the sexual offender registration databases.

SEX.COM asks, "If you are under 18 years of age … please exit now" and advertises that it blocks minors from inappropriate material using - Cyber Sitter , Safe Surf , Net Nanny , ICRA and that it is a Member of Adult Sites Against Child Pornography . (My local library uses Cyber Sitter.)

I then did a search using the keyword 'condom'. Critics of the Children's Internet Protection Act have expressed some concern that legitimate health information might be blocked.

Condom

Condom.com was unblocked.

Planned Parenthood was unblocked. But 'George W. Bush's War on Condoms' (within the Planned Parenthood site) was blocked, confirming critics concern that some political information might be blocked. MTV.COM was unblocked, as were birth control basics and condom cues (both within MTV.com).

Emergency Contraception and 7 Dirty Words

Emergency contraception was unblocked as were George Carlin and his 7 dirty words (Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Mother-fucker, Tits).

Nudity

By this time, I was getting somewhat frustrated by the difficulty of coming up with keywords that would be blocked. So I typed in 'nudity.'

This led me to Outdoor Nudity! (unblocked) , which had a warning not to enter the site if you are under 18. While there, I ended up with a cyber restriction for the category of public nudity [Access restricted by Cyber Patrol 5.0. Reason: Cyberlist Setup. Profile: Default].

However, I was able to reach somewhat explicit material by clicking onto Gallery 1 , which for some reason was not restricted. [In all fairness, however, pictures in Gallery 1 or not particularly more sexually explicit than the murals found in Clyde's of Tyson's Corner.]

I was also, through Google, able to reach Tunik with group nude pictures, both on the web in general and on my own web site (So much for concern about blocking news of high art.)

Encouraged by this success, I tried to get to nudity in science fiction (blocked) - authors who have included nudity in their work: Poul Anderson , Piers Anthony , Isaac Asimov , Marion Zimmer Bradley, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jo Clayton , Philip Jose Farmer , Howard Fast , Robert Heinlein, Judith Moffett , Theodore Sturgeon , James Tiptree (Alice Sheldon) , John Varley - an apparent case of what Justice David H. Souter has calls presumptive censorship.

Bestiality

In light of the recent decision by the Supreme Court overruling the Texas sodomy law I also used the search word 'bestiality.' In all their wisdom, the Virginia legislature included both sodomy and bestiality in one statute involving 'crimes against nature.'

Word on the street is that that law will now have to be revised . Presumably, restrictions against bestiality will remain on the books, out of the belief that brute animals cannot consent.

As it turns out, http://www.bestiality-free.us/ is not blocked and, with some ingenuity, one can log on to Horse-Fucking (you must be 21 years or older to enter this site).

Assgrams and Breast Cancer

I rounded off my search with the key word 'ass' (Assgrams are not blocked; Ass.com is blocked) and with breast cancer (not blocked).

Reaction

According to a 2002 study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, filters set at the least restrictive level correctly block 87 percent of pornography while incorrectly blocking an average of 1.4 percent of all health sites and 9% of 'safe sex' health sites. At the most restrictive setting, they block 91% of pornography while incorrectly blocking an average of 24% of all health sites and 50% of 'safe sex' sites.

Given the results of searches above, I assume my local library has its filter set at the least restrictive level - a situation which permits anyone with a true interest to locate a variety of sexually explicit materials but which censors criticism of the sitting president and a catalogue of nudity in science fiction. Set at a more restrictive setting, I would expect the degree of over blocking to increase.

Given sufficient motives, providers can circumvent restrictive settings by putting up new pages, either in text or by image. Patrons are left to negotiate with their local librarian in order to view restricted pages.

What do you think? Does it matter?

For related articles, see Loudoun County Removes Internet Filter, Internet Filtering Overruled, Children's Internet Protection Act, Law Newsletter Has To Sneak Past Filters, Federal Judge Rules on Library Internet Access, Filtering Speech in Austin, Texas, Internet Access Policy at Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, Filtering Web Sites, Limiting Internet Access in Loudoun County .