Does Content Filtering in a Public Library Violate First Amendment Rights? 

Filters are actually an okay thing to have. In this case: the library is a public place that is used for the educational benefit of the community. Maybe filtering out things like pornography, criminal intent websites, or communication with terrorist organizations is a huge benefit to society.

Now there is also a matter of age. R rated movies requiring 18+ age is not violating your rights. It is merely recognizing that some content is not safe for kids to view, especially in their early teen years when they are so impressionable. The fact of the matter is that the content is not the issue. The same content can make people very enlightened and appreciate the complex beauty of the world and for another it could lead to violence. These filters serve as a overall guide to protect the best interest of society as a collective. For example, parents getting pg 13 books for their kids are not violating their rights they are simply giving them time to adjust to the reality of the world as they grow older instead of just throwing them in the deep end and hoping everything turns out okay.

Second Opinion

No, I believe that content filtering in public libraries does not violate citizens First Amendment rights. Public libraries are a great resource available to almost everyone but are mainly used by children and young adults. One of the main reasons why public libraries are such a great asset to communities is because they provide an abundance of resources, including computers. I believe that content filtering is an absolutely necessary and fair measure that public libraries must take because they have lots of children and young adults who rely on these resources and need to be shielded from inappropriate material that can be accessed from the internet. Public libraries are funded through local tax payer money and those people and their children shouldn’t have to be subjected or exposed to obscene or offensive material whilst in a public place. If public libraries didn’t use content filtering they would be violating the Children’s Internet Protection Act which would then prevent them from being able to receive federal money and therefore have less money to put towards their resources that so many people rely on. Young adults and children are at a very impressionable stage in their life and the type of things that they are exposed to can very easily influence them in a lot of negative ways.

If you claim that public libraries are violating your First Amendment rights by content filtering then you would have to say the same thing about movie theatres who don’t allow people under a certain age to watch R-rated movies. In every other aspect of society we take precautionary measure to protect minors from certain things/materials so why should public libraries be any different?