Posted on 03/26/2002 3:22:54 AM PST by TomGuy
Follow up to FR Post: Librarians to argue that blocking online porn is censorship
Librarians Say 'Don't Make Us Thought Police' as Trial Challenging Internet Porn Filtering Opens
By Joann Loviglio Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 26, 2002
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Librarians complained that the government was trying to turn them into "thought police" as a trial over the constitutionality of a federal law requiring libraries to screen out Internet pornography opened.
The trial, which is being heard by a three-judge panel, began Monday and was expected to last nine days.
Leading the challenge to the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 are the American Library Association and the Multnomah County, Ore., Public Library. They contend that the law puts unconstitutional restraints on free speech.
They want to offer patrons a choice between filtered and unfiltered Internet access, contending that parents and children should be the ones who determine what content they find unacceptable - not the government.
"There are some 5-year-olds whose parents do not want them to know where babies come from and there are some that do," testified Ginnie Cooper, director of the Multnomah County library, which serves 500,000 people. "We don't try to presume the values of parents."
The law requires that libraries receiving certain types of federal technology funding use filters to block access to objectionable Web sites. Opponents say the software can also block access to sites providing valuable information on topics such as breast cancer and sexually transmitted diseases while failing to block pornographic sites.
"Librarians are uniquely qualified to teach library patrons how to find the content they want and avoid inappropriate content without the government trying to deputize them into the thought police," said Ann Beeson for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is arguing the case for the plaintiffs.
Sally Garner Reed, former director of the Norfolk Public Library in Virginia, said libraries are reflective of their communities and could be stifled by a one-size-fits-all approach.
The government argues that filtering software has vastly improved since the law was enacted, making fewer mistakes and allowing libraries to unblock sites that were blocked in error. The government also contends that printed pornographic materials are not in many library collections, so there is no reason why online obscenity should be.
"Your policy is just plug in the (Internet) service and essentially tell patrons, 'Don't break the law,' is that correct?" asked Timothy Zick, a Justice Department attorney.
"Yes," replied Candace Morgan, a librarian for 37 years currently at the Fort Vancouver, Wash., Regional Library.
Libraries that do not comply by July 2002 would lose federal technology funding. It was unclear when the judges may rule, but any appeal would go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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On the Net:
American Library Association data on the law: http://www.ala.org/cipa
Family Research Council: http://www.frc.org/porn.cfm
AP-ES-03-26-02 0434EST
We have the right to be moral just as much as the right to be immoral. But, immorality corrupts morality, not the other way around. So, we only preserve freedom for all by not allowing naked people or naked pictures in public places.
I just don't see nudie pictures as providing anyone with information. Are they really seeing something they've never seen before?
If these same people wanted to walk into the library naked would you have a problem with that? I doubt it. What about their right to free expression?
The fact is they have the right to be naked, just not in public. It is the same thing with naked pictures.
Morality is like the absence of salt. Salt corrupts the entire dish. Similarly, immorality corrupts morality. If people are truly free then they are also free to be moral.
The left always defines freedom as the absence of morality, but that is only half of the picture. The negative half. What about the freedom to be moral?
Libraries have always had this problem--trying to provide for all patrons. Larger libraries certainly can provide more "private" areas for "questionable" viewing. However, many smaller libraries usually cannot--due to budget and limited floor space.That is actually a pretty solid analysis--the question is whether the library exists for adults as individual free agents or whether it exists as a cultural institution for society, in which parents are supported in their efforts to edify their children.. . . So why not ban children from libraries, unless accompanied by an adult?
I submit that those who want the latter are the ones paying the piper. And that society expects the individual adult* choosing to act as a free agent to do so on his own dime.
* more truthfully styled "'adult'--really adolescent"
Freedom to also means freedom not to.
Not that I'd expect these weird *Librarians* to understand such an axiom.
Well at least it's for The Children. Seems like it takes a Village Library to raise a child.
I cannot believe you think that someone should have the right to see naked pictures in a library in front of children without any courtesy of blocking their view.
As a librarian if you have a man in your library, on the internet, looking at porn - and it is in full view of the public because of the nature of the computer screen - you are saying that is just fine with you? why not just have the guy sitting naked and masturbating while he's at it?
The only way to protect everyones freedom is to draw a few moral lines in public places. It is the same idea as having no smoking in libraries. A smoker forces everyone around him to smoke, so we say "take it somewhere else". It is the same thing.
No they do not. But, they also do not have the right to mandate that I must view porn to use the library. We are not talking about the internet, we are talking about nudie pics on a screen the size of a television for all to see.
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