Mainstream Loudoun et al. v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library et al.

In the wake of the Reno ruling, Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, sponsored The Internet School Filtering Act that would require schools and libraries to use filtering or blocking systems for publicly accessible computers. The proposed law would restrict availability of certain telecommunications discounts and withhold funding support to public schools and libraries if filtering or blocking software were not used. Critics charged any legislation requiring all inappropriate material be blocked was not constitutionally feasible given software technology. All commonly available filtering technology would likely be over-inclusive in what it restricts. Additionally, constitutional tests used in courts to assess obscenity and indecency included a key "community standards" element. Consequently, any law requiring that access be blocked to "obscene," "indecent," or "illegal" material would require implementation based on local community standards of what was considered undesirable. With little legal guidance, including court decisions, libraries struggled to establish workable compromises.