Brooklyn Public Library Steals Ten Million From CIPA Program

The Brooklyn Public Library main branch at Grand Army Plaza has stolen a whopping ten million dollars from the federal government under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) program. I have written about this theft in 2009 when the damage was only $2.5M but since then it keeps growing year after year with no end in sight.  And that's just in one library.  See:

• P*rn in Brooklyn Public Library; Frustrated Patron Provides Photographic Proof; Library Refuses to Act; Two and a Half Million Dollars in Jeopardy Due to Possible Fraud," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 18 December 2009.

In the past I contacted multiple attorneys about filing a Qui Tam case (False Claims Act) against the library.  They all said there was clear fraud recoverable under the law but that they would not take action against a public library.  This is another way librarians get away with violating law—because they take advantage of the great goodwill built within the government occupation called librarianship.  

Still, if anyone else wants to file a Qui Tam case, it allows whistleblowers to get up to 30% of the recovery of the stolen money for themselves, just use the information I'm reporting here.  30% of $10M = $3M.  Could be a great inflation fighter for enterprising citizens.

In reaction to this reporting on fraud, the Brooklyn Public Library blocked me on Twitter, tossing aside the law yet again.  I had to remind them that is illegal and they have unblocked me as a result:

• "Public Libraries Must Unblock Social Media Participants," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 9 January 2019.

So I returned to the library to investigate how things have changed since 2009.  The theft has been modernized, that is all.  While I was able to get to P*rnHub on only one of three computers, that still shows Internet filters can be removed simply by clicking the right buttons, actually just touching the screen now, without having to ask a librarian as required by the CIPA law.

To comply with CIPA, "Schools and libraries must certify they are in compliance with CIPA before they can receive E-rate funding. ....  An authorized person may disable the blocking or filtering measure during use by an adult to enable access for bona fide research or other lawful purposes."  Source:

• Federal Communications Commission. “Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA).” Federal Communications Commission, May 5, 2011. https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act.

The "authorized person" is not the "adult" himself from the clear wording of the FCC requirement.  An adult simply may not authorize himself to have unfiltered access.  That would make the sentence and the law meaningless.  No adult patron has "authority" to disable filters for anyone, let alone himself.  An "authorized person" is someone working for the library, like the young lady sitting there in a booth to help the computer users.  By the way, she expressed to me disgust at the men who use the room for p*rnography viewing.  And a security guard told me men can look at Internet p*rnography if they do it discreetly.  What?  Clearly he has been reprogrammed by the librarians violating the law.

And P*rnHub is not "bona fide research or other lawful purposes" when the law creating the library requires libraries be for the use and benefit of the public.  See also "Dismantle P*rnhub" and "Instagram Removes P*rnhub Account After Repeated Calls From NCOSE, International Advocates, and Survivors."

So what I discovered is a simple way to view p*rnography—for free—without having to be authorized by anyone.  Simply go to a Brooklyn Public Library "Self-Service" kiosk.  And right there it says "self-service," indicating a possible violation of the CIPA "authorized person" requirement.  Touch "Guest Pass Services."  Touch "Adult."  Touch a yes/no question about adding money for printing.  Et voilà, your free guest pass prints out.  You type in the numbers to log into a terminal.  You get a desktop.  You open Google Chrome and it opens to bklynlibrary.org.  Simply type in any thing you like, like P*rnHub.com, et voilà.  So the "authorized person" requirement is 100% defeated in violation of CIPA.  See pictures here (and I grabbed the P*rnHub page before the images fully loaded so it should be safe for work):

#AmWriting how @BKLYNlibrary #NYC stole $10M from federal government under CIPA program. Children’s Internet Protection Act.

I’ll be viciously attacked by #librarians for reporting how.

Follow me to learn more. And don’t #FundLibraries.@NYCCouncil @VickieforNYC @BlueBoxDave pic.twitter.com/b1xEqPKu0V

— Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries® 🟧 (@SexHarassed) September 4, 2022

That is a violation of CIPA law.  The person who filed with the federal government is defrauding the government since funding would not have been granted without the lie that the law is being followed.  Librarians will naturally say it does not violate CIPA.  But they would be wrong and would be using a double standard.  You see, librarians cannot both be experts on the law and at the same time ignorant of the law.  Librarians say they cannot determine what is child p*rnography since they are not lawyers.  Suddenly they are CIPA experts?  "'A librarian is not a legal process,' Krug said. 'There is not librarian in the country—unless she or he is a lawyer—who is in the position to determine what he or she is looking at is indeed child p*rnography.'"  

• "Libraries vs. Police In a Suit Sparked by P*rn; Kent Case Centers on People's Rights and Protections," by Jeffery M. Barker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter, 12 August 2002.

Naturally people will want to confirm my calculations:

CIPA funding for "Internet Access" for Brooklyn Public Library, 

Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY:

$315,414.00 and $140,400.00 in 2022 

$309,474.00 and $163,857.60 in 2021 

$286,254.00 and $183,427.20 in 2020 

$289,044.00 and $161,827.20 in 2019 

$681,090.88 and $70,113.60 and $70,113.60 in 2018 

$783,143.53 and $155,347.20 in 2017 

$612,806.40 and $165,984.00 in 2016 

$324,000.00 in 2015 

$0 in 2014 

$560,044.80 in 2013 

$553,337.76 in 2012 

$537,284.37 in 2011 

$562,604.80 in 2010 

$428,040.00 in 2009 

$428,040.00 in 2008 

$317,340.00 in 2007 

$423,712.72 and $835.10 in 2006 

$372,564.00 in 2005 

$2,278.80 and $510,000.00 in 2004 

$1,920.00 and $504,000.00 in 2003 

TOTAL: $9,914,299.56

Simple.  To check the numbers and to investigate other libraries similarly stealing funds, simply "Search Commitments" at the Universal Service Administrative Co. website that administers the Federal Communications Commission's CIPA program funding:

• https://data.usac.org/publicreports/SearchCommitments/Search/SearchByYear

So this needs investigation by the proper authorities.  And that $10M stolen money is just from a single Brooklyn Public Library branch in a single New York City library system, I believe (unless they filed as an aggregate, I don't know).  It is possible hundreds of millions are being defrauded from the federal government just in New York City alone while libraries like Brooklyn Public Library get funded by New York City Council for things, illegal in and of themselves in libraries, like Drag Queen Story Hour.

Hundreds of millions, people.  Stolen, by librarians, to enable p*rn viewing in public libraries despite the law that requires libraries be for the use and benefit of the public, and that's neither Drag Queen Story Hour nor P*rnHub nor massive theft from the federal government.

The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch sits in plain view of the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.  You can see President Abraham Lincoln astride a horse, shown top right, from the library's front steps.  Imagine how disgusted that man would be at the thievery going on at the Brooklyn Public Library, just so people could be enslaved to Internet p*rnography in violation of federal law, let alone the victims including children of such websites.  

"The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.'"

• Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865, "Second Inaugural Address; endorsed by Lincoln, April 10, 1865," The Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress.

NOTE:  DUE TO BIG TECH CENSORSHIP OF THIS POST, I HAVE ADDED A * INTO THE WORD THAT APPARENTLY TRIGGERED AN INTERSTITIAL ALERT THAT BLOCKED ACCESS TO THIS PAGE.  KIDS CAN GET THIS IN LIBRARIES BUT GOOGLE CAN'T LET ADULTS READ ABOUT IT.  I HOPE MY CHANGE REMOVES THE ALERT.

NOTE ADDED 5 SEPTEMBER 2022:

I have sent the following email to the library seeking documents that were filed by the library with the FCC to obtain the CIPA funding for Internet Access:

Dear Selvon Smith,

Greetings. I'm planning to file an official FOIL request or requests for public documents over which you have direct control and are likely the author. To save us both time and effort, I thought I would contact you first to request the documents that I believe are definitely easy and legal for you to provide to me, preferably as PDF attachments to your response to this email.

It's a very simple request too. And I got your email address from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that shows you are the person who submitted the documents.

Here's what I request:

All forms filed on behalf of the Brooklyn Public Library with the FCC regarding E-rate or the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and dated any time during 2020, 2021, and 2022.

I'm guessing this will be very easy for you (as the likely author of the documents) to find and gather, perhaps in less time than it takes to read this email. I'm not even asking for any responses from the FCC.

Since these were submissions to the FCC, they are already public documents so they should not be redacted in any way.

See? Easy peasy.

Thank you.

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Dan Kleinman, Owner of SafeLibraries® brand library educational services

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