According to The Times, the library plans to post warnings on all computers to remind people to be sensitive to what others might see while they are web surfing.
The watching of such materials in public has increasingly been the focus of debate and legislation as broadband technology becomes more widespread, pitting people who want internet access to be unrestrained against those who feel that controls must be placed on the public viewing of mature materials.
According to The Times article, San Francisco Public Library officials have traditionally leaned toward limiting exposure to viewing rather than censoring content.
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
The library is lying. Filtering out porn is NOT censorship. The US Supreme Court found it perfectly legal to filter out porn, just like libraries already have book selection policies that filter out porn. Yes, porn may be legal, but a library is NOT an open public forum where anything goes, so the library has reasonable and legal control mechanisms available to it. See:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/ALAdogma
What is going on here is the library leadership is acting like it is the authority. It is not. The people are. He thinks he will act like he knows the law and people will follow along. Joe Walsh's new album, "Analog Man," has a song "Lucky That Way" containing the following message:
I'll let you all in on a little secret
If I could share with you a thing or two
If you just act like you know what you're doing
Everybody thinks that you do
And that's how the San Francisco library leader is acting, and everybody thinks he's right. He's not. I'll let you all in on a little secret. The library is lying and it knows it is lying. Just look at another library investigative report where, when the library director is finally cornered about her lies, she merely says, well then, "avert your eyes."
San Francisco Bay Area, CA: "Porn, Sex Crimes At Libraries; I-Team Investigation," KGO, 29 Nov 2006, "[T]he Martin Luther King Library has a problem with pornography. They have no rule against viewing photographs or full-screen sex videos from Internet sites, even with children nearby. Chief librarian Jane Light says it's a matter of free speech. .... ABC7's Dan Noyes: 'I've seen the [privacy] screens and I see how they work and the stuff is visible from behind. You can see everything.' Jane Light...: 'So you can avert your eyes.' .... San Jose's police blotter over the past year lists several arrests for child porn at the library, at least ten cases of child molestation or other sex crimes involving kids and several cases of men viewing porn and performing a lewd act, right at the terminal. .... Sgt. John Laws, San Jose library police: 'It showed him sitting at the computer terminal and ... masturbating.' .... Marcia Stacke, Child Quest International: 'You know, sometimes I wonder if we're just too afraid to be, I don't know, sued in this country. We've got to step out and protect our kids. Enough is enough.'"
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=4808374
Apparently enough wasn't enough and the libraries are fooling the public again.
Citizens of San Francisco: your library is misleading you and endangering your community and especially your children, convincing you not to demand legal and effective means to protect yourselves, namely, Internet filters. Privacy screens do not work except to give the library a cover story to appear as if it is taking appropriate action.
Media: If balance is your interest, I have been opposing the ALA on this very issue for over a decade. Contact me:
http://tinyurl.com/AboutDan