Porn Facilitation in Public Libraries: ALA Guides Librarians to Defy SCOTUS

Source: "The Web is Facili-
tating an Upsurge in Female
Exploitation & Slavery" (link)

It is porn facilitation in public libraries if you are the leading expert in libraries with the power to guide librarians on how to write policy and you guide them to defy the US Supreme Court—the very case you lost.  The American Library Association [ALA] is that leading expert, perhaps the nation's sole expert and provider of model library policy.

US Supreme Court Rules First Amendment Rights Do Not Attach to Pornography in Public Libraries

ALA lost in the US Supreme Court on the issue of pornography in public libraries.  The case was United States v. American Library Association, 539 U.S. 194 (2003) (link).  The case ruled, "public libraries' use of Internet filtering software does not violate their patrons' First Amendment rights."  In part, this is because: "The decisions by most libraries to exclude pornography from their print collections are not subjected to heightened scrutiny; it would make little sense to treat libraries' judgments to block online pornography any differently."

So it is perfectly legal to block pornography from public libraries and also to keep it blocked even if a patron requests an unblock (link).  Indeed, no library has ever been sued for blocking pornography (link).

ALA Teaches the First Amendment PROTECTS Porn in Public Libraries

But ALA teaches librarians the exact opposite of the US Supreme Court.  It does this in specialized "guidelines" intended to help local libraries write Internet access policy.  The "guidelines" are the very vehicle designed to ensure maximum coverage in libraries nationwide of what is essentially the opposite of the law:

In the millions of Web sites available on the Internet, there are some—often loosely called “pornography”—that parents, or adults generally, do not want children to see.  A very small fraction of those sexually explicit materials is actual obscenity or child pornography, which are not constitutionally protected.  The rest, like the overwhelming majority of materials on the Internet , [sic] is protected by the First Amendment.

Source: "Guidelines and Considerations for Developing a Public Library Internet Use Policy," by Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, 26 March 2013 (link).

So, according to ALA, pornography web sites that are not ruled to be obscenity or child pornography are "protected by the First Amendment."  Compare with the case it lost a decade earlier where the Court ruled, "Internet filtering software does not violate their patrons' First Amendment rights."

It is inescapable that ALA guides librarians that blocking porn violates the First Amendment, the exact opposite of what the US Supreme Court ruled in the case named for the ALA, namely, US v. ALA.  And the reliable sources above prove exactly that.

US Supreme Court ruled library filters do not
violate the First Amendment.

ALA not only guides librarians on what is 100% opposite of the law, but ALA teaches new library trustees 100% opposite of the law as well (link).  ALA even teaches this illegality in academic libraries (link)!  ALA is very thorough in ensuring everyone gets the message.

ALA teaches the exact opposite of the US Supreme Court.
Here's a library attorney siding with ALA over SCOTUS.

If you are the leading authority on library policy, and if you lost in the US Supreme Court on the issue of the alleged First Amendment right to pornography in public libraries, and you are teaching librarians and library trustees in public and academic libraries the exact opposite of the case you lost over a decade ago, you are facilitating porn in public libraries.

ALA has even been recognized two years straight for facilitating porn.  See: "ALA Listed As Top Facilitator of Porn in America and a Leading Contributor to Sexual Exploitation of Women" (link).

Conclusion: ALA Facilitates Porn in Public Libraries

The US Supreme Court says "public libraries' use of Internet filtering software does not violate their patrons' First Amendment rights."  Meanwhile ALA, being in a position of authority, teaches "'pornography'... is protected by the First Amendment."  That is 100% the polar opposite of the law.

So ALA is guiding librarians and library trustees in public and academic libraries to defy the US Supreme Court, it is in the very position of power to do so, and communities are being harmed as a direct result (link).  What part of that is NOT facilitating porn in public libraries?

URL of this page: safelibraries.blogspot.com/2015/01/porn-facilitation-in-public-libraries.html

On Twitter: @ALALibrary @OIF @Porn_Harms

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