L.A. to debate what to do about porn in libraries
Contra Costa Times – “A City Council committee is scheduled today to consider what to do about people who want to look at pornography on public library computers.
The Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee asked for input from the City Attorney’s office after the Chinatown Public Library in early January received complaints. People told librarians that adults and children waiting in line to check out books could see someone watching pornography on a computer.
“We want to figure out the best way to prevent children and families from being able to see images that are pornographic in nature or offensive,” said Councilman Ed Reyes, who introduced a motion to address the issue.
Reyes said it’s the only incident to be reported. “
Dear Los Angeles City Council,
Re: http://www.wavenewspapers.com/news/local/porn-online-libraries-los-angeles-city-council-video-119673889.html
Filtering porn out of public libraries is legal and desirable for reasons stated by the US Supreme Court in US v. ALA. Please read that case in its entirety for yourselves: http://laws.findlaw.com/us/539/194.html
Further, one needs to get past the false information from those of the library community who are American Library Association [ALA] acolytes. This “dogma” from the ALA was explicitly called out for ridicule by a library director brave enough to speak truth to power and make his libraries porn free, with his state Supreme Court’s approval, mind you. See “Library Porn Removal Roadmap; NCRL Director Dean Marney Details How to Legally Remove Legal Porn from Public Library Computers and Advises that the ALA Relies on Outdated Dogma” at http://tinyurl.com/ALAdogma
And “privacy screens” are useless, except as political cover to make an excuse for why filters should not be used. Here’s a story from the San Francisco Bay area that may convince you, and watch what happens when the library director gets caught in a lie: “Porn, Sex Crimes At Libraries; I-Team Investigation,” KGO, 29 Nov 2006 ( http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=4808374 ).
“Jankowski said whether to use an Internet filter is a policy decision that will have to be made by library officials.” Leave it up to them and anything goes–see http://tinyurl.com/WillManley/ Look at the law that created those public libraries. It is possible “anything goes” is ultra vires and the City Council will have all the power it needs to ensure the library complies with that law without piercing the veil of the library’s autonomy.
So do the right thing by your constituents and thank you for your consideration.
Please, contact me for further information. My single letter cannot possible outweigh the dogma you will hear from your own librarians. I will be happy to speak with any of you and provide additional information. The most important thing to do is to read US v. ALA.
Thanks again.
Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries.org
My sending the above letter became part of the following LA Times story:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0413-library-porn-20110413,0,6445464.story
LibraryStuff,
I gave you a bit hat tip, second paragraph, here, and thank you:
“Molested Children in Los Angeles Libraries May Be Direct Result of Governmental Malfeasance; Los Angeles Times Interview of SafeLibraries Reveals Government Was Warned Against Employing Privacy Screens“
BIG hat tip, not “bit” hat tip. ‘Twould be nice if I could spell check!!
Anyway, dig that old 2006 article I dug up showing this very town already has a known crime problem.Even the librarians speak out, some anonymously, apparently out of fear, I’ll bet of the library administration.
The Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee asked for input from the City Attorney