The BPP has scored a victory for free speech following the unacceptable sudden blocking of the BPP website by Todmorden Library last month.

Below is the e-mail we received from Calderdale Council in response to the complaint we submitted.                                                                                    

Date: 31 March 2009                                                                              

Miss K Dermody
Press Officer
British People’s Party

Dear Miss Dermody

Re: Access to website www.bpp.org.uk

Thank you for your e-mail requesting a review of access to the filtered site indicated above. Your request has been logged as complaint and allocated the reference number 3284. Following your e-mail the site was reviewed and has now been cleared for use by the public on library computers.

The site was listed by our filtering software as being restricted in the category of hate/discrimination and therefore automatically blocked. However as you point out in your e-mail, the website is of a legal and legitimate political organisation and therefore the decision was been taken that it should be unblocked and the work to unblock the site has been carried out.

Calderdale Council operates a web/e-mail filtering system and monitoring policy in accordance with our legal obligations. The transmission, printing, downloading of any material which violates any laws in prohibited. This includes but is not limited to; material which is downloaded or printed in breach of copyright laws, obscene, racist or pornographic material which may cause anyone to feel harassed, alarmed or distressed or material protected by confidentiality provisions. It is the user’s personal responsibility to be aware of and to comply with current legislation. 

We are sorry for any inconvenience that the temporary blocking of the website may have caused yourself or anyone wishing to access the website.   

If you are not satisfied with this response, you can ask for your complaint to be reviewed by Gary Borrows, Head of Libraries, Museums and Arts. He will consider the way in which the Council’s policies and procedures have been applied.

Yours sincerely

David Duffy

Collections & Service Development Manager