Consent Decree Vindicates ACLU's Challenge of Library's Web Filtering Categories

In a consent order in Hunter v. Board of Trustees, Salem Public Library, (ED MO March 5, 2013), a Missouri federal district court ordered the Salem, Missouri public library to refrain from reactivating on its public computers filters that blocked websites relating to the categories "occult" or "criminal skills." (ACLU press release.) The suit was filed by the ACLU on behalf of a Salem resident who was blocked from accessing websites discussing Native American and Wiccan ideas about death or death rituals. The library had already changed its policy before this lawsuit was filed. (See prior related posting.) The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on the order.