Children's Internet Protection Act
The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a law that place restrictions on the use of certain funding available through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and on federal E-rate discounts for Internet services in libraries and schools. CIPA requires that the library have an established Internet safety policies and technology which blocks or filters visual depictions from being accessed through the Internet in the library.
Background
The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act (N-CIPA) passed Congress in December of 2000. Both were part of a large federal appropriations measure (PL 106-554).
CIPA and N-CIPA: There is some overlap in language between these two sections of PL 106-554. The Children's Internet Protection Act addresses the filtering requirement and the need for an Internet Safety Policy. The Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act focuses on what has to be included in a library Internet safety policy. Moreover, N-CIPA is applicable only to the E-rate program. In this FAQ the term "CIPA" is used to represent both CIPA and N-CIPA unless noted otherwise.
Federal Programs: Although CIPA compliance impacts specific use of funds from three federal programs (E-rate, ESEA Title III [TLCF], and LSTA), the E-Rate program is more complex than LSTA (and because ESEA is beyond the scope of MLIN and the Board of Library Commissioners). Therefore, this FAQ focuses primarily on CIPA issues and compliance related to the E-rate.
FAQs
The information contained in these documents focuses specifically on issues of compliance with CIPA and N-CIPA for Year 4 of the E-rate. The questions and answers are based on discussions held among state E-Rate coordinators regarding CIPA and N-CIPA. Some of the information is also a result of conference calls between state E-rate coordinators and the FCC and SLD.Only the information provided on the FCC and SLD web sites should be considered official. Readers are also encouraged to visit the ALA CIPA web site, which has considerable information on this topic. These web sites are listed in Sources for More Info.
If, after reading these documents, you have any questions on the legislation contact Paul Kissman, 800-952-7403, fax 617-421-9833, paul.kissman@state.ma.us.
This information was originally developed by Bob Bocher of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Public Library Development, with some assistance from statewide library E-rate coordinators from all over the U.S. It has been heavily edited and adapted to reflect the Massachusetts library environment.