Following is an exerpt from the AZ Star Opinion February 14, 2007 regarding filters on Library computers in Pima County. Note that they reference the Oro Valley Towu Council's recent vote on this subject.
"A proposed compromise on how to honor the First Amendment rights of adults in Pima County Public Library branches while protecting children from pornography reaches a good balance. It should be endorsed by the library's advisory board and forwarded to the Board of Supervisors.
A group reviewed the library system's Internet policy after Supervisor Ray Carroll wanted to place mandatory filters on all library computers after he saw video footage of men viewing pornography at the library. Other supervisors wisely refused to take that step, and a committee set out to review the policy.
The committee, comprising educators, librarians, attorneys and ministers, according to a story by the Star's Erica Meltzer, has come up with a plan that respects the First Amendment and protects children. Every time a new user begins at the public computers, it will start with a screen explaining what is filtered and giving the user the option of removing the filter — with a reminder that Arizona state law prohibits the display of pornographic material when minors are around.
Computers in the children's area will always be filtered.
It seems to us that this compromise is a more thoughtful solution than "knee jerk" course approved by the Oro Valley Town Council last week. All computers will be filtered, and, while a user can ask a librarian to unblock specific sites, it is up to the librarian to decide if they want to comply with the request. Our Town's new policy is impractical because it inserts a librarian's discretion between the user and exercising his or her First Amendment rights. Court challenges have upheld adults' rights to view material on library computers, as long as the material is not illegal. Perhaps the Town Council would have devised a more sensible solution of they actually thought about what they were doing!
1 comment:
The Star article misses the point. It gives the impression that the filters block pornography, and only pornography. But that isn't the case. The filters are far from perfect, and they have been known to allow children to view objectionable material, as well as blocking perfectly legitimate material from both adults and chilren.
Check out the following links for more information:
Fact Sheet on Internet Filters
See No Evil: How Internet Filters Affect the Search for Online Health Information: Examples of Health Web Sites that were Blocked by One or More Internet Filters
Filtering Software: The Religious Connection
American Library Association
The Tin Drum Controversy
I sincerely hope that this doesn't expose Oro Valley to expensive lawsuits, either from parents who now think that their children are completely safe being left unsupervised at the library, or from a patron who is unable to view a health site or an art site at the library.
In any case, it's one more reason to vote out the incumbents at the next election.
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