(A)(1) A pilot program is hereby established to assess the feasibility of installing Internet filtering software in libraries or institutions as defined in § 10-1-205, if funding is available.

(2) The Department of Administration shall be responsible for implementing this program and selecting appropriate filtering software. A minimum of three filtering software programs shall be tested.

(B)(1) The Department of Administration shall request institutions to voluntarily participate in the pilot program. Pilot areas shall be located in the upstate, midstate, and lowcountry areas of South Carolina. The department shall make every effort to ensure that one public school and one public library in each area are selected. Participating institutions must already have filtering software in place that meets the requirements of item (2) of this subsection or agree to install recommended filtering software purchased by the State.

(2) Participating institutions in the pilot area must equip Internet accessible computers with one of the software filtering devices provided by the Department of Administration, if not equipped, as provided by (B)(1). This software must incorporate web-filtering technology designed to eliminate or reduce the ability of the computer to access web sites displaying pornographic pictures or any other obscene material as defined by law. Selected software must be able to distinguish between pornographic and obscene web sites and medical research web sites.

(C) The Department of Administration shall be responsible for evaluating this program. The evaluation shall be based on the following criteria:

(1) the filtering programs’ ability to limit or restrict access to sources of information or images that are considered obscene including hard-core pornography and child pornography;

(2) the filtering programs’ ability to limit or restrict access to sources of pornographic information or images that could be obscene as to minors or harmful to minors; and

(3) the filtering programs’ ability to successfully access and not filter legitimate research sites.

(D) Any person blocked from an Internet site he believes contains material that does not meet the criteria listed in items (1) or (2) of subsection (C) above, and desires to access such Internet site, may make a request that the institution unblock the specified site. If the institution determines that the site does not fall within the criteria listed in items (1) or (2) of subsection (C), the institution shall unblock such Internet site. An adult patron may request unfiltered access to the Internet for serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific purposes, and the institution may temporarily disable the blocking software for such purposes.

(E) The pilot program shall take effect on the effective date of this section and shall expire on June 29, 2001. By December 1, 2001, the board shall report its findings to the General Assembly.

(F) Medical schools are exempt from the pilot program.