Word: loudoun
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...November, a U.S. district judge ruled that a filter system employed by libraries in Loudoun County, Va., violated the Constitution...
...November, a U.S. district judge ruled that a filter system employee by libraries in Loudoun County, Va., violated the Constitution...
Just what is inappropriate is a messy issue, as citizens of Loudoun County, Va., a conservative enclave northwest of Washington, can attest. Last month, after six public hearings and over the objections of library staff, the county library board adopted the region's most restrictive Internet-access policy. Henceforth, the library will arm its computers with filters to censor obscene sites--the definition of obscenity, of course, being largely up to whichever filter Loudoun County ends up deciding to buy. Adults who want to cruise the Net sans filter will have to ask the librarian to call off the watchdogs...
...wouldn't say amen to, that's their privilege. But free-speech proponents say customers looking for ideology-free screening might not be aware of how much they're missing. Censorware produces unpredictable and often unwanted results (see box), and most filterers consider their blacklists trade secrets. This puts Loudoun County in the position of letting private firms pass judgment on the contents of a medium that's supposed to offer easy access to all--a notion that's especially dubious in the case of the "free public library," Internet provider of last resort for those who can't afford...
Tucked into a heavily wooded mountain ridge straddling Loudoun and Clarke counties, Mount Weather remains largely invisible. On Loudoun County's tax map, parcels covering some 434 acres are simply designated "United States of America." Area residents nod knowingly at mention of the facility. "For years residents of Loudoun County have quietly smiled to themselves that if all the other roads in the county were choked with snow and ice, that one road would be practically dry," says Rob Montgomery, a county employee. "Care was always taken that people could get in and out of there...