Hunter v. Salem, Missouri, City of et al

Filing 66

Joint MOTION to Approve Consent Judgment by Defendants Board of Trustees, Salem Public Library, Glenda Woffard, Plaintiff Anaka Hunter. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Rothert, Anthony)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
ANAKA HUNTER,
Plaintiff,
v.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES, SALEM PUBLIC
LIBRARY, et al.,
Defendants.

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) No. 4:12-CV-4 ERW
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[PROPOSED] CONSENT ORDER AND JUDGMENT
Upon the parties’ joint motion for entry of consent judgment, the Court, having reviewed
and taken notice of the pleadings herein, and with the consent of Plaintiff and Defendants,
hereby enters Judgment as follows:
FINDINGS
1.

Beginning in 2010, Plaintiff, Anaka Hunter, conducted research at the Salem

Public Library. Some of the websites she attempted to access were blocked by the Internet
filtering system Netsweeper employed by the Library through MOREnet, the service provider for
Defendants’ Internet Content Filtering.
2.

Plaintiff brought this § 1983 action asserting violations of her rights under the

First and Fourteenth Amendments.
3.

Defendants maintained the minimum default filtering categories offered by

MOREnet, which included “adult image,” “pornography,” “phishing,” “proxy anonymizer,”
“viruses,” “occult,” and “criminal skills,” to filter internet activity from no later than April 30,
2009, until on or about August 1, 2011.

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4.

On or about August 1, 2011, prior to the time this litigation was filed, Defendants

received an email from MOREnet. In the email, MOREnet informed Defendants that as of
August 1, 2011, the default category filters activated by MOREnet would be more circumscribed
than had been the case. According to the email, the service change was prompted by concerns
raised by several organizations. Institutions subscribing to the Netsweeper filter software
through MOREnet were required to print and complete a Category Configuration Form to
indicate which, if any, content filtering categories would be activated pursuant to local policy or
preference.
5.

On or about August 1, 2011, prior to the time this litigation was filed, Glenda

Wofford, as representative for the Salem Public Library, completed MOREnet’s Internet Content
Filtering Order Form. On the form she indicated that the only content category to be blocked by
the Salem Public Library beyond the minimal default categories of “adult image,”
“pornography,” “phishing,” “proxy anonymizer,” “viruses,” activated by MOREnet would be
“web chat.” The remaining content filtering category blocks, including “occult” and “criminal
skills,” were no longer activated and have not been activated since.
6.

As a result of the changes made on August 1, 2011, prior to the filing of this suit,

library patrons had and currently have unblocked access at Salem Public Library public Internet
terminals to all of the websites at issue in this litigation.
7.

In this suit, Plaintiff sought declaratory judgment pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983; a

permanent injunction enjoining Defendants from enforcing or implementing unconstitutional
policies, practices, and customs; nominal damages for deprivation of her constitutional rights;
and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988.
ORDER

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Based on the aforementioned Findings, the Court hereby orders as follows:
1.

Defendant Board of Trustees, Salem Public Library, its officers, agents, and

employees are prohibited from reactivating –locally, through MOREnet staff, or otherwise–
Netsweeper content filtering categories “occult” or “criminal skills” or any filtering category
other than “adult image,” “pornography,” “phishing,” “proxy anonymizer,” “viruses,” or “web
chat,” except as specifically required and necessary to comply with federal or state law.
2.

The parties agree that they will bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs.

3.

This Judgment fully and finally resolves the claims assert in Plaintiff’s Complaint,

and Judgment is hereby entered.
4.
DATED:

This Court retains jurisdiction to enforce this Judgment.
March ___, 2013.
___________________________
Honorable E. Richard Webber
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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