Filter Law Flusters South Carolina.(state orders libraries to use filtering software in their computer systems)(Brief Article)

The South Carolina State Library asked in early August for clarification of a new law requiring all publicly funded libraries, except those in academic institutions, to filter 90% of their public Internet workstations. "It really is the state telling local governments how to run their affairs," Deputy Director John Landrum told the Associated Press August 7.

Enacted as part of the state budget (AL, Aug., p. 19), the law states that libraries with "computers available for use by the public or students or both, must [block] sites displaying pornographic pictures or text." Non-complying libraries are to lose half …