Library censorship question

[owen76]

I heard that a court ruled that libraries now have to filter content on their internet stations and I wonder what yall think about it?

[uraloony]

I think it really depends on what they are filtering... Porn, Warez, can we be a bit more specific?

[BogoMips]

Its porn...I saw it on the news the other day. I think its a reasonable thing to do. You dont see Horny Housewifes or Playboys in the magazine sections. I remember when the book Madonna came out in the 90's sometime caused a big controversy at my library and the rest of them 'round the nation. Internet porn should be censored from the public libraries, otherwise its the librarians job to make sure the adolescents arent looking at pr0n.

[Hardcore Swordf]

I work at a library and the case hasn't been decided on yet. I think! Libraries should have filters for the kids that are 10 years old and find a penis on the screen.

[avdven]

We had a local ruling like that some time ago, and most of the local libraries have adopted some sort of filtering software. I know that many of the local libraries are all connected through a main server which has an annual subscription to some sort of filtering company, though I've still seen plenty of kids get around it when they set their minds to it.

[Tuskin]

the whole deal with it is that the fileters can sometimes interfear with the searchs and information others want to gather... some people may want to do a study on sexually transmittted diseases or stuff that may include words that can be "questionable" by the filter or the type of web page depending on the sites information and content may cut the page and lose the information tht should be accesable for all to see. That is the debate mainly..

[rcgreen]

It's not the kids that's the problem. It's the (so-called) adults
who access porn and jack off in plain view of the kids.

[gstudios]

I think, if parents don't want their kids to access porn at public libraries, they should go with them. If they are worried about that. Using filtering software is not a solution. There was a story about a 13 yr old girl saying how she was glad that the library that she had gone to wasn't using that software, because she had some 'embarrassing' stuff that she wanted to look up, and didn't want other people to find out.

It would have blocked that site, because filters are only as smart as their programmers, or configurer's.

And for christ sakes, the librarians don't even want this filtering software. Who wants it? Inept parents.

Then on the other hand, of actually preventing curious or horny 12+ yr olds from seeing nudity or porn. So what. You see it everywhere now anyway. Movies, TV, Magazines.

[cwk9]

What kind of pervert goes to the library to look up porn? I love porn to but there’s a time and a place for it and the library is not one of them. Nor any other public place. And no doing a research essay on the porn industry is not a valid excuse.

[Tedob1]

if its a community decision to filter the libary...who could argue. but were talking about the federal government imposing a standard on everyone through the use of financial blackmail. This is not what federal government is for.