Under the law and the Supreme Courts decision, when must a library disable or turn-off the filter?
To varying degrees, the plurality and concurring opinions upheld CIPA based on an expansive reading of the statute’s disabling provision, which allows a library to disable or turn- off the blocking software during adult use “for bona fide research or other lawful purposes.” Under the federal government’s interpretation of the disabling provision “a patron would not ‘have to explain . . . why he was asking a site to be unblocked or the filtering to be disabled.'” United States v. ALA, slip op. at 12 (plurality opinion) (quoting Solicitor General, Tr. of Oral Arg. at 4); see also id. 5 (Breyer, J., concurring) (“As the plurality points out, the Act allows libraries to permit any adult patron access to an ‘overblocked’ Web site; the adult patron need only ask a librarian to unblock the specific Web site or, alternatively, ask the librarian, ‘Please disable the entire filter.'”). Thus, it appears that, under the Supreme Court’s decision and the government’s interpretation of the statute, l
