Children's Internet Protection Act

What the Law Says

In an attempt to regulate the Internet in schools and libraries, Senators John McCain and Ernest “Fritz” Hollings introduced a bill in 1999 that imposed requirements on schools and libraries regarding Internet access by students and patrons. The bill was added to an appropriations act in 2000 and signed into law on December 15, 2000, by President Clinton. The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which is incorporated in numerous sections of the United States Code, went into effect on April 20, 2001.

CIPA requires schools and libraries that receive federal funds to adopt and implement filtering systems to block specified sites. School systems and libraries must have their Internet policy and filtering systems in place before becoming eligible to receive the “e-rate” (a subsidy for the cost of certain services) provided by Section 254 of the Telecom Act of 1996. The e-rate program is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (US AC), which has established a set of procedures so that the schools and libraries can meet all requirements for the discount. USAC operates under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission. The discounted services are telecommunications, Internet access, and internal communications. Another major source of funds for schools and libraries is Section 224 of the Museum and Library Services Act of 1996.

As part of its extensive provisions, CIPA requires schools and libraries to enact Internet safety policies that address

At the same time, CIPA requires schools and libraries to have specific technology in place to block or filter access to the Internet. The technology protection measures (TPM) must prevent adults or minors from accessing depictions that are obscene, contain child pornography, or may be considered inappropriate for children. Authorized persons may disable filtering devices for use by adults in order to engage in legitimate research or for other lawful purposes. There is no tracking of Internet use by adults. According to CIPA, adults are persons who are at least 17 years old; this means that schools are likely to have many students who could request to use computers that have the filter disabled. CIPA also directs school and library officials to conduct public meetings on the Internet filtering to be used in their facilities in order to inform students and patrons.

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