LIBRARIES TO CHANGE NET ACCESS POLICY.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

Accused of intruding on the First Amendment rights of its patrons by prohibiting them from viewing sexually explicit Internet sites, the county library agency agreed to change its Internet access policy to allow adult patrons unfiltered access.

Settling a civil lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party of Ventura County in March, the Ventura County Library Service Agency will still require filtered Internet access for minors - all patrons under 18. The agency will also continue to require that adult patrons sign a special form to access the Internet using public terminals - but the form will feature significantly different language.

Specifically, the new form will no longer bar patrons from accessing sexually explicit sites but instead will ask patrons to refrain from accessing obscene material - a term that makes a world of difference, said attorney William Weilbacher Jr., who represent the Libertarian Party in the lawsuit.

``What most people don't realize is that it's much tougher to show that something is obscene than it is to show that it's sexually explicit. Obscenity is just not the same - it doesn't mean Hustler magazine or even hard-core porn,'' said Weilbacher, a Ventura-based attorney.

Unlike other terms, the word ``obscene'' was specifically defined in the 1973 court case Miller vs. California as anything that a community would find inappropriate, offensive or lacking in literary, artistic or other value - all very subjective standards difficult to prove in court.

``What this settlement really accomplishes is that it ensures that adults will have as much unfettered access to the Internet as they would accessing the Internet in their own home - which is as much as is allowed under the U.S. Constitution,'' Weilbacher said.

For County Counsel James McBride, the modifications to the library's computer-use policy will continue to allow library administrators to protect minors while allowing adult patrons and youths with parental supervision or written permission to have unfettered access to the Internet.

``The intent was always to protect children from harmful materials,'' McBride said. ``We had used the term sexually explicit. The issue became, Is sexually explicit too vague in the context of First Amendment rights? And we decided that, yes, it was.''

The county is expected to spend several thousand dollars to implement filters for computers located in the children's areas of the agency's 15 libraries. The county also agreed to pay the Libertarian Party's attorney fees, totaling $5,365.

But McBride said that the larger issue remains unresolved - that is, whether or not government agencies, including public library systems, have the right to pick and choose which material can and cannot be made available to its patrons.

``All around the country, libraries are struggling to figure out exactly how the Internet fits into the legal scheme. The issue is really going to be what the nature of the Internet is,'' he said.

If the courts decide that the Internet is a system like an encyclopedia with myriad articles, then picking and choosing would be tantamount to censorship. But if the Internet is considered to be more like a bookstore where users can browse, then government agencies and libraries - like bookstores - would not be required to accept everything on the Internet, McBride said.

``In that case a public library would have the right to decide which sites are appropriate and which are not,'' he said.

Several cases around the country relating to the nature of the Internet are expected to be heard in the coming months - any one of which could significantly affect local library policies.