MEDIA ADVISORY - For Immediate Release

CONTACT: Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Communications Director, Free Expression Policy Project 212.807.6222 x 17

February 11, 2003

Protesting the relegation of millions of Americans to second-class information citizenship, a coalition of non-profits and youth media organizations submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court today arguing that the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) exacerbates the digital divide.

Under CIPA, libraries receiving certain federal funds or discounts are required to install Internet filters. Even at their least restrictive settings, these filters wrongly block tens of thousands of valuable, non-pornographic Web pages, including public health sites, political sites, and job search and career sites. This puts people who depend on libraries for Internet access - including lower-income citizens, the elderly, the disabled, and residents of rural areas - at a discriminatory disadvantage to people with computers at home, school, or work.

The brief argues that filters "undermine public libraries' core functions as information providers and conduits for participation in democratic life."

Signers of the brief include Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide, the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, Harlem Live, Pacific News Service, Peacefire, Rock Out Censorship, TRUCE, and Wiretap Magazine. The brief was prepared by Marjorie Heins, the director of the Free Expression Policy Project (FEPP), a think tank on artistic and intellectual freedom.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of CIPA on March 5, 2003.

To view the brief online, visit:

HTML: http://www.fepproject.org/courtbriefs/cipabrief.html
PDF: http://www.fepproject.org/courtbriefs/cipabrief.pdf

For more information about FEPP, visit: http://www.fepproject.org.