Conservatives
governing Madrid's town hall have installed a filter that
blocks lawmakers from doing Internet searches for words such
as sex or sexuality, opposition
Socialists said.
Angeles Alvarez,
the Socialists' top official for gender equality issues,
said she recently tried to check on a Spanish-run
reproductive health campaign in Latin America. When
she typed the word sexuality in a search
engine, a denied-access warning flashed on her screen.
''Our access to
channels of information is cut simply for using the word
sexuality,'' she told reporters on Thursday. Another
town hall councilor, David Lucas, also reported
running up against the firewall.
A town hall
official denied Friday there was any new filter in the
building's computer server, saying the system simply blocks
access to porn sites.
Computer searches
with words such as sex will give access to pages
about sex education and health issues but not smut, the
official said on condition of anonymity because of
town hall policy prohibiting his name from appearing
in the media. (AP)