David Burt

David Burt is a former librarian and a longtime advocate for content-control software. Burt's research on Internet filtering and the problems allegedly associated with unfiltered Internet access have been cited by both the United States Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States in upholding the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). He is discussed in various sources such as the book Pornified. Early life and career David Burt completed an undergraduate degree in history and a masters of library science from the University of Washington in 1992. He worked for the New York Public Library for three years, then worked at the Lake Oswego, Oregon Public Library as an information technology manager from 1996 to 2000. Since then he has worked with filtering software companies. Filtering Facts In July 1997, his concerns about children potentially being exposed to pornography on the Internet led him to start Filtering Facts, a nonprofit organization that encouraged libraries to voluntarily adopt filters. Burt's advocacy included testifying as an expert witness in the library filtering case Mainstream Loudon v. Board in 1998; before the National Commission on Library and Information Science; as well as state legislatures, city councils, and local library boards. This activism was profiled in an article in The New York Times in 1999.