1. At the trial and in this appeal, the State has litigated the FOIA claim on MDOE's behalf.

3. The State has stipulated to MACC's standing to challenge the Act on constitutional grounds.

4. Marshall courts follow the "lockstep doctrine," construing the free speech clause of the Marshall Constitution to provide the same level of protection as the corresponding provision of the U.S. Constitution.

6. An Internet "site" is a computer that provides access to one or more files via the Internet, or to a specified subset of the files accessible on such a computer.

7. See Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 65 U.S.L.W. 4715, 4716 (U.S. June 26, 1997).

8. See id.

9. See id.

10. The World Wide Web refers to hypertext files and other documents accessible over the Internet using specialized software and communications protocols.

11. This method obviously has its disadvantages; for example, a program that blocks documents containing the word "sex" might block access to information about the Sussex County Fair, while permitting access to documents that use such phrases as "do the nasty" and "getting it on," and those that contain sexually explicit visual images not accompanied by textual descriptions.

12. Sites are evaluated and assigned to categories by professional "websurfers" employed by filtering software manufacturers and by independent contractors acting under their supervision. Parents can use these categories to set access restrictions individually for each child, depending upon the child's interests and maturity. Employers can block access to categories of sites which are unlikely to be work-related.

13. According to MDOE, three libraries permit patrons to reserve time on Internet terminals in advance, and require patrons to present identification before using the terminals. In each such instance, however, a library card is sufficient identification, and no identification is required to use an Internet terminal during a period for which it has not been reserved in advance.

14. While many libraries have a limited collection of materials which are kept in closed stacks, these items are generally not requested very often, and librarians generally will provide such items to anyone who requests them with a plausible explanation.

15. It is possible, of course, to ascertain whether any particular site appears on the "off-limits" list simply by attempting to access the site from a computer on which the NetChaperone software is installed. Because the list contains thousands of sites, however, it would be impractical to use this method to ascertain the entire contents of the list even if this were permitted under the license agreement.

16. At one point MACC's own web site was blocked by NetChaperone because it resides on a server operated by MarshLink, a regional Internet service provider, and several of MarshLink's other subscribers had posted sexually explicit images on web pages located on the same server. MarshLink recently established a separate web server for subscribers wishing to post objectionable materials, and NetChaperone has removed MarshLink's main web server from the "off-limits" list.

17. Examples of sites that have been temporarily blocked by NetChaperone include discussions of AIDS treatment and prevention, feminist philosophy, animal rights, and the views of Louis Farrakhan. The parties stipulated at trial that the software has blocked access to many World Wide Web sites whose content was not obscene, including sites maintained or published by members of MACC.

18. MACC indicated at trial that it also seeks ongoing disclosure of the updated copies of the list provided by CSI to the MDOE each month, though we do not address that issue here because MACC has not yet formally sought such disclosures as required by FOIA.

19. MDOE's denial of the FOIA request was affirmed by Secretary of Education Hazel Bennington on February 28, 1997.

20. The parties have stipulated that the list qualifies as a "public record" under § 6-85-3(c).