Certification From The United States Dist. For The Eastern Dist. Of Wash. Insarah Bradburn v. North Cent. Reg'l Library Dist., 82200-0.
Decision Date | 06 May 2010 |
Docket Number | No. 82200-0.,82200-0. |
Citation | 231 P.3d 166,168 Wash.2d 789 |
Parties | Certification from the United States District for the Eastern District of Washington inSarah BRADBURN; Pearl Cherrington; Charles Heinlen; and the Second Amendment Foundation, Plaintiffs,v.NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL LIBRARY DISTRICT, Defendants. |
Court | Washington Supreme Court |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Duncan Emerson Manville, Savitt Bruce & Willey, L.L.P., Sarah A. Dunne, ACLU, Seattle, WA, Catherine Crump, American Civil Liberties, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs.
Thomas Dean Adams, Celeste Mountain Monroe, Karr Tuttle Campbell, Seattle, WA, for Defendants.
Venkat Balasubramani, Focal, P.L.L.C., Seattle, WA, Amicus Curiae for Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
John Morris, Jr., Cynthia Wong, Center for Democracy & Technology, Washington, DC, Amicus Curiae for Center for Democracy & Technology.
Lee Tien, Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, CA, Amicus Curiae for Electronic Frontier Foundation.
¶ 1 The question in this case has been certified to us from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington:
Whether a public library, consistent with Article I, § 5 of the Washington Constitution, may filter Internet access for all patrons without disabling Web sites containing constitutionally-protected speech upon the request of an adult library patron.[1]
We conclude that a library can, subject to the limitations set forth in this opinion, filter Internet access for all patrons, including adults, without violating article I, section 5 of the Washington State Constitution.
¶ 2 The facts summarized here are taken from the district court's order granting in part and denying in part defendant North Central Regional Library's (NCRL) motion for certification. Bradburn v. N. Cent. Reg'l Library Dist., CV-06-0327-EFS, 2008 WL 4460018, Order Granting and Den. in Part Def.'s Mot. for Cert. and Holding in Abeyance the Mots. for Summ. J. (E.D.Wa. Sept. 30, 2008) (hereafter Order).
¶ 3 NCRL is an intercounty rural library district with 28 branch libraries, established in 1960 by citizens of Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, and Okanogan Counties. Its mission is to promote reading and lifelong learning. It is also committed to support of public education, with 26 school districts operating within its area. In 14 of these districts, the branch libraries act as de facto school libraries. NCRL is managed and controlled by a board of trustees that is responsible for its policies.
¶ 4 NCRL maintains a collection of more than 675,000 books and other materials that are available to its patrons at the branch libraries, by order through its web site, or by mail order. The branch libraries vary in size from 701 square feet of public area to 12,000 square feet, with an average of 2,865 square feet. Only one branch has a wall or partition separating the children's section of the library from the rest of it. Twenty of the branches are staffed by one librarian.
¶ 5 NCRL provides public Internet access in all of its branches in furtherance of its mission and to meet the diverse needs and interests of its patrons. This access is subject to two policies, the Collection Development Policy and the Internet Public Use Policy. NCRL's director and director of public services interpret and apply these policies.
¶ 6 NCRL's Collection Development Policy states:
Order at 8-9. NCRL's Internet Public Use Policy states:
¶ 7 In October 2006, following its earlier use of other software, NCRL implemented the “FortiGuard Web Filtering Service,” a widely used filtering service. Using proprietary algorithms and human review, FortiGuard sorts web sites into 76 categories based upon predominant content. The database catalogues over 43 million web sites and over 2 billion individual web pages. It is continually updated. Anyone can ask for FortiGuard to review its classification of a particular site or page by using an electronic form available on the Fortinet site.
¶ 8 A FortiGate unit, which acts as an intermediary between a computer's browser and the server, is installed at each of NCRL's 28 branches. All Internet traffic on NCRL's public computers is routed through one of these units, which filters content.
¶ 9 NCRL's FortiGuard filter is configured to block the following of the 76 categories that can be blocked using the FortiGuard system:
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