Legislature(2007 - 2008)CAPITOL 106
02/28/2008 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB54 | |
| HB269 | |
| HB353 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 269 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 54 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 353 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 353-PUBLIC LIBRARY INTERNET FILTERS 9:54:08 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the last order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 353, "An Act relating to the blocking of certain Internet sites at public libraries and to library assistance grants." 9:54:16 AM REPRESENTATIVE WES KELLER, Alaska State Legislature, introduced HB 353 as prime sponsor. He said the bill is about controlling access to pornography by children. He noted that distributing electronic, indecent material to minors is a Class [C] felony. Indecent material is defined in [AS 11.61.128]. Representative Keller mentioned the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which he said was challenged and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. Currently in Alaska, he relayed, there are 89 public libraries. The issue before the committee is to decide whether or not there should be a filter on the Internet, so that children using Internet access in libraries will be protected. He reported that 40 percent of the computers in the libraries around the state do not have filters on them. Representative Keller said the proposed legislation would require 100 percent of the computers in libraries to have filters, which he said "is in alignment with CIPA." The filters can be turned off by any authorized person in the library. He named three filters available: SquidGuard, Snort, and Websense. Two are free and the other costs $50-$100 per router, with a $20 annual payment for a license. He stated, "A filter is only a good as the person installing and maintaining the filter." The bill does not get into a lot of details about how the libraries are supposed to install the filters, he said. 9:58:21 AM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER, in response to a question from Chair Lynn, said the bill would pertain to any [library] that receives state and federal funding, including the 89 public libraries. 9:59:10 AM REPRESENTATIVE DOLL said the librarian who runs the public libraries in Juneau told her the Juneau Public Libraries receive $18,000 in grant money from the State of Alaska annually, but to implement the provisions of HB 353 would cost $10,000 a year. She said she would like to take up discussion of that issue when the committee next hears the bill. 10:00:11 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked the bill sponsor to coordinate with his staff in getting feedback from librarians. CHAIR LYNN warned that there are pornography web sites that, for example, use a well-known government web address and just change the domain name extension in order to lure unsuspecting computer users to their site. REPRESENTATIVE KELLER said the word "filter" is not carefully defined. He indicated that there are usually two types of filters: one blocks web sites, while another looks for patterns. The proposed legislation presumes that libraries have the best interests of children at heart; it just asks that the computers be filtered to avoid children seeing that which is spelled out in AS 11.61.128. 10:03:44 AM JIM POUND, Staff, Representative Wes Keller, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of Representative Keller, prime sponsor of HB 353, answered a question from Representative Gruenberg by relaying that the bill sponsor has not asked for a legal opinion concerning the proposed legislation. [HB 353 was heard and held.]
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