The state of Virginia had a similar law that prohibited state employees including those at the University of Virginia from using state-owned computers to access sexually explicit material on the Internet. Several UV employees filed suit in Federal Court. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema found in February 1998 that the state law violated the free speech rights of University of Virginia employees under the first and fourteenth amendments of US Constitution. The law was declared invalid in summary judgement, and the State of Virginia was ordered to pay plaintiffs costs and fees.
Summary judgements happen when the case is so clear that there is no point taking it to a trial.
After reading about the recently enacted Laboratory policy one might be tempted to draw parallels between the University of Virginia and the University of California. If one relies on the U.S. Courts for guidance the Laboratory policy on computer use appears to violate the first and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, just as did the law at the University of Virginia. While is easy to moralize and say that you or I don't wish to view that sort of web site, the rights of Laboratory employees to be free from unconstitutional infringement of free speech are apparently being denied. According to the Newsbulletin, several hundred of our fellow employees have already been disciplined or fired under that policy. All our rights to be secure in our jobs are in jeopardy if some computer spies and auditors decide that we have tarried too long on some web site that offends some moralist, regardless of the legal basis for that decision or policy.