Public awareness of crime, sexual harassment in libraries, and inappropriate books and web sites in schools due to American Library Association policy. ⚖️
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.'"
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:
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.'"
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
EBSCO advertises porn and sex toys to school children, reports Concerned Citizens for School Databases, "p*rn and 's*x toys' are ADVERTISED TO KIDS thru #EBSCO K-12 DATABASES!":
"Easy access to porn on school devices creates a culture of sexual harassment #BackToSchool https://bit.ly/2Plcmlh https://endsexualexploitation.org/?p=22658 via @ncose":
Lest we think school librarians are not directly involved in ensuring school children remain exposed to inappropriate material provided by EBSCO and similar school database companies, I am reporting that the American Library Association is actively working to silence parental opposition to the porn industry indoctrination by claiming, like it does with Me Too, Times Up sexual harassment it calls "dubious," that the problem doesn't exist—it's an "unsupported belief."
ALA continues its DEFENSE OF EBSCO PORN IN K-12 SCHOOL databases - OK to exploit millions of kids as marketing block for 95 billion dollar sex industry https://t.co/lD72VIj22j
EBSCO still dominates marketplace - sells obscene "homework" databases to schools & libraries all over the country - not just colorado - many parents still don't know! https://t.co/Dgn8MITBUi
Judith Krug defending child pornography in public libraries.
Former Illinois ACLU board member Judith Krug became American Library Association's greatest leader. In the late Sixties, she personally set up the rules librarians nationwide follow to this day to the detriment of many communities. One brave/anonymous librarian speaks out about her legacy of destruction, literally; his/her email is published for the first time anywhere below.
One of those rules from Judith Krug was that librarians are not to take action against child pornography viewers in public libraries:
"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 pornography."
That statement of hers is an example of policy guidance she gave to public libraries nationwide:
Libraries and librarians are not in a position to make those decisions for library users or for citizens generally. Only courts have constitutional authority to determine, in accordance with due process, what materials are obscenity, child pornography, or “harmful to minors.”
....
As for obscenity and child pornography, prosecutors and police have adequate tools to enforce criminal laws. Libraries are not a component of law enforcement efforts naturally directed toward the source, i.e., the publishers, of such material.
ALA "guidelines" for libraries to ignore child pornography.
Her policy to ignore child pornography in public libraries was followed by libraries:
Accordingly, even if the library employs a computer technician who could demonstrate that the patron was viewing child pornography on the computer, this is not a reportable criminal offense, the library’s computer technician is not under any statutory reporting obligation, and the Library’s Records Confidentiality Act may be violated if such a report is made.
Not only did ALA remove the directive to ignore child pornography, but it removed the entirety of the "guidelines"! It basically censored itself! The "guidelines" are still titled as such, but they now exist as a wholesale copy from another ALA policy that was not so prominently promoted previously.
And to cover up this debacle, ALA claimed the wholesale copying of a preexisting policy was merely an "excerpt," which is another in a long line of flat out lies to cover up its shameful and illegal activities, some of which can be seen in the brave/anonymous librarian letter published at the bottom. Compare:
"Libraries and the Internet Toolkit," by Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, 29 May 2007, accessed 17 December 2016.
To the librarians who mock public library child pornography whistleblowers, we whistleblowers forced ALA to completely remove its publicly visible dangerous policy that facilitated child pornography in public libraries nationwide.
That said, the ALA policy still suffers from serious flaws. For example, it still decries "censorship" although the US Supreme Court ruled blocking Internet porn in public libraries does not violate the First Amendment.
And in a hilarious instance of ridiculous diktat, it states that the safety of children using Internet computers in colleges and universities can only be assured by their own parents. No college student ever brings his mommy into the college library to protect him from Internet porn. Yet here's ALA providing guidance making that a requirement:
Academic libraries usually do not have the same censorship problems as public and school libraries. Most users of academic libraries are students (over 18 years old) and faculty. As a result, users in academic libraries can freely access Internet resources. It is important that parents are aware that their children can be exposed to information that may not be age-appropriate when their children use academic libraries. Parents need to be mindful that, as in any other public space, children need to have parental supervision.
Source: "Libraries and the Internet Toolkit," by Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, 29 May 2007, accessed 17 December 2016.
But ALA has really topped itself in the area of child pornography facilitation in public libraries. Remember I said ALA changed its policy as a result of child porn whistleblowers? Recall I said it not only changed the policy but removed it completely, replacing it will an older, preexisting policy? It did, but it wasn't because of the obvious reason.
The obvious reason for ALA to delete its policy facilitating child pornography in public libraries after years of pressure is that it has seen the light and no longer supports its previous policy position created by Judith Krug of the ACLU/ALA almost half a century ago.
But that is not the reason ALA removed its child porn facilitation policy.
ALA removed its child pornography facilitation policy to take it out of the public's view. It removed the policy so child porn whistleblowers could no longer point a finger at evidence of the policy. ALA has essentially gone dark on its child porn facilitation policies. It fully intends to continue to facilitate child porn in public libraries.
There are a number of ways to know ALA is continuing to facilitate child porn in libraries:
It did this silently. It did not announce any new policy to report child pornography. It simply deleted the policy, substituted another one and claimed it was an excerpt. There was no announcement of any change. Neither Library Journal nor ALA's own American Libraries ran any stories on the new policy.
ALA is keeping in place all other policies and practices that help facilitate child porn in libraries, as I've listed above. If it were truly interested in stamping out child pornography facilitation in public libraries, it would not only change its policy but also make other changes to effectuate the new policy. It simply has not done or said anything. Silence.
ALA whips up opposition to me and any child porn whistleblowers. We are repeatedly attacked, even by the leader of ALA's "Office for Intellectual Freedom" who blocks me on Twitter, for example. So much for intellectual freedom. Libraries where I expose child porn facilitation also block me on Twitter. ALA librarians are told to block me, and over a hundred do. Now if you have a sincere change of heart about facilitating child porn in public libraries, you do not attack and silence the child porn whistleblowers, yet here is Jamie LaRue, leader of ALA's supposed intellectual freedom office, doing just that:
ALA in Orlando: blood drives, school supplies, many contributions. We stand by the victims, we offer aid. @Safelibraries does ... nothing.
And here's a graphic in case he hides/deletes that evidence as well:
ALA actively trains librarians to thwart child pornography whistleblowers. Evidence of this training was obtained by FOIA requests, some of which can be viewed here: Hatefest, and some of which can be seen in the brave/anonymous librarian letter published for the first time below. The name "Hatefest" comes from my cowriter Kevin DuJan who, for reporting child pornography in a library, was repeatedly attacked for being gay, including at the training provided byALA where his being gay was used to attack Megan Fox who is another child porn whistleblower. More FOIA information could have been obtained but ALA ordered librarians to violate their state records retention laws and state open government laws to instead destroy evidence of the training. See: "Deny, Delete, Defend; American Library Association Orders Public Librarians To Destroy Public Documents To Preclude Public Disclosure of its 'Exposure'." But it's too little, too late, and you can see in the FOIA responses ALA ordering librarians to do absolutely anything to "defend" child pornography viewers in public libraries, like destroying records, not recording records in the first place, misleading the media, or suing child porn whistleblowers for up to $500,000 for defamation. And lo and behold, I was sued, along with Kevin DuJan and Megan Fox, for defamation. See: "Bittman v Fox: SafeLibraries Dismissed Second Time." So as you read through these FOIA responses, remember librarians were being trained that the child porn whistleblowers were self-interested evil out of town authors and prudes who must be stopped at all costs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0ByZ7htC3sJifdWpYSWk0OFAwOG8?usp=sharing
And there is yet more evidence of how ALA facilitates child porn in public libraries.
Below is never before published information. It is a letter received in response to the FOIA requests mentioned above.
Read about the homophobia ("Blondie kept pointing out that he is gay"), the hate ("you should not be hanging out all day with a gay guy"), the directions to destroy evidence from ALA. Read how ALA controls what local libraries do to mislead local government, media, and citizens. Read how he/she was ordered to destroy evidence, and he/she did as he/she was ordered.
Read the fear in this librarian's voice that he/she should dare speak out against the high and mighty ALA, facilitator of child porn.
These are the tactics of people perpetuating a system of child pornography facilitation in public libraries nationwide. This is what ALA does, by any means possible including homophobia and ordering librarians to defy the law by destroying documents.
And here it is in the words of one very frightened yet brave librarian, published below for the first time anywhere. "I've never been to a workshop like this where afterwards it was a big thing to collect all the notes and pretend like it never happened."
To the librarians attending ALA's MidWinter meeting, wake up. You may be joining the "Women's March" in Atlanta today seeking social justice, but you have your own injustice in your own backyard. Homophobia. Child pornography facilitation. Sexual harassment of librarians caused by Internet porn viewers. And so on. All caused by ALA's own policies and actions. It's time to clean it up. And you can read it in the words of your own brave/anonymous peer, right now, just below.
It's sad that a brave/anonymous librarian has to speak out about how ALA facilitates child pornography in public libraries nationwide. It's worse that she can only speak to the child porn whistleblowers themselves because she fears ALA Will anyone else speak up?.
Note: [Text in square brackets] means slight changes made to protect anonymity and to prevent retaliatory job action. Paragraph spacing added. SafeLibraries welcomes and protects anonymous input and is indeed the only source concerned about the Sexual Harassment of Librarians that's caused by unfiltered Internet pornography due to ALA policy and despite the law.
People: Blondie = Bridget Bittman, Public Information employee of the Orland Park Public Library; Bob from the ILA = Robert P. Doyle, Executive Director of the Illinois Library Association; Director = Mary Weimar, Library Director of the Orland Park Public Library; Hillary Clinton = Hillary Clinton; Kevin = Kevin DuJan, whistleblower of child pornography at the Orland Park Public Library; Michelle Obama = Michelle Obama; Ms. Fox = Megan Fox, whistleblower of child pornography at the Orland Park Public Library; Sarah Palin = Sarah Palin; the ALA Woman = Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom; the President = Barack Hussein Obama
To: Megan Fox Ms. Fox, Our [library] received your recent FOIA request related to the crisis workshop held December 17, 2013. I attended this event but have been told not to respond to you so I am doing this [after work] from a new email account. My job would be threatened if it were known I was telling you this so please do not try to ID me. My notes from the workshop were taken from me [in the past] when a big brouhaha happened about this. Not sure what it was all about but my boss said [he/she] got a call that you were looking for things related to the workshop and depending on FOIA and so my notes from the workshop were taken at that time and I was told not to ask for them back. They are gone now. I was told recently that you had used FOIA to ask for them again and that you will be told that no notes exist but that is not true. They were taken but they did exist. What I can remember about the workshop is this. There were five speakers. Two from Orland Park. Two others were women from the ALA and there was a man from the ILA. Not sure on their names. The two Orland employees were one older with brown hair and glasses and one blonde younger woman. Not sure on their names. But the Director was the older woman and I think the younger woman was the Asst. Director. Not sure. The older woman was more measured and careful when she spoke but the younger one got emotional at times. You and a friend of yours whose name I don't recall were featured as examples of two people from the tea party who are attacking libraries around the country as part of some plot. The ALA woman said that this is like what happened to Acorn but now the tea party is going after libraries. They really seemed to believe this but [where] I was at few people bought into that. The Director said that you and your friend were paid operatives of the tea party and that you came to Orland Park in October looking for something to invent a complaint about. They said you made up a story and lied about seeing someone doing inappropriate things. Then you started filing FOIA requests about the library after that excuse. Blondie said that you were paid by the tea party to do this. Then the Director and Blondie went into a big production about what they had been doing to stop you. The Director said that any library encountering the tea party should involve the police because there are good relationships with the police in towns and villages. The Director said that she has a personal friendship with the Orland police chief and that this was "instrumental" in handling you. I remember how she said the word "instrumental" and she said that the police and the village officials were working with the library on preventing you and your friend from getting any traction. The Director also said that the police should scare you away and have you move on with your lives soon. Blondie said that the police are good tools to use against attackers like you because no one wants the police visiting them and the police will side with the library against patrons especially when they are not even from town. A big deal was made about how you and your friend do not live in Orland and you are outsiders and paid operatives. Then it got more personal and they showed slides from your website and I guess your friend's website. I remember a picture of a big shark and also a picture of bees. There was a picture of your friend with Sarah Palin and another picture of him with Hillary Clinton shown. And there were pictures of you that looked like they were head shots taken for promotional purposes. The Director and Blondie said that the two of you were setting up a scheme for money and that this was all a stunt to either get attention for you or to write a book. Blondie said that Orland was focusing only on you and ignoring your friend because he is gay and it gets messy to attack a gay guy. But they have plenty of examples of how to combat a mom who complains. Treat her like Sarah Palin and tell everyone she is dumb and just makes babies was the gist of that. This is when that photo of Sarah Palin and your friend was shown I think. This was a big section of their talk and it went on for a while about how you were painted as a liar and how Blondie looked at everything you said or wrote to find any inconsistencies. The Director said that as soon as an inconsistency was found that the media were alerted to it as proof that you could not be trusted. Blondie also said it was necessary to say that you did not have children with you in the library because that further made you a liar. She said that since you had no videos or photos of your kids in the library that it was their word against yours and people automatically believe the library over regular people. The ALA later picked up that thread and said it was a useful tool to use because people just believe what a library says and we need to take advantage of that. Who would believe that the library was doing anything wrong? The Director and Blondie then talked about how they were documenting everything that you and your friend did and taking it to the police until a charge could be filed at some point. Once you crossed a line they would be able to neutralize you and get an order from a judge keeping you away from the meetings. The plan was to ignore anything you wrote in social media as much as possible but counter it using the local media which promised they would put forward the library's defense against your claims. The strategy was to use the police to get you to stop coming to meetings and to make the community members not believe you by making you look like a liar. [I or someone] asked in the question answer period if what you were saying is true and if there were reports of things happening in the library and the Director said that unfortunately you had gotten ahold of old reports and were lifting them out of context. The Director said that no more incident reports would be written on matters in the library and that instead communication would be verbal to avoid FOIA. The ALA picked this up too and advised everyone to stop writing incident reports and to instead do them as voicemail round robins to be deleted every day. This way staff stays informed but there is no paper trail later. The takeaways and learning experiences from this matter involved how to neutralize attackers like you and your friend and how to make people not believe them and how to use allies in the community such as the police to make people like you go away. This was not the kind of workshop a lot of us thought we were signing up for and it [was a waste of everyone’s time]. I was upset that I had to listen to all this. Most of it seemed crazy to me because no one would answer the question on whether or not what you had said happened had happened and if the incident reports were true. It was all just a meeting about how to chase you and your friend away. There was also a big thing where Blondie got upset and had to justify why she decided to go on some radio show. I forget which one but the ALA woman said that you should never go on a live show unless you are well acquainted with the host and know the questions in advance. She said that Blondie made the mistake of allowing the hosts of the show to put words in her mouth and that damaged the library from a PR perspective. Blondie said she would never do a live interview again and would instead stick to putting out the press releases that the ALA would proof for her. The ALA and ILA said to never send emails but to call on the phone and the Office for Intellectual Freedom would help. They gave us the number and I remember writing it down. I remember writing down the phone numbers for the Director and Blondie too and the number for Bob from the ILA. No one wanted anything in writing just phone calls. Nothing important on voicemail either just say to call back. It was a big deal to keep saying to keep everything verbal and off email and not in writing. I am trying to think if there is anything else. You asked about a presentation that was given and we never received a copy of it but the Director and Blondie had pictures of you in a presentation. It had about 30 slides. They had pictures of you from online and pictures of your friend. Blondie kept pointing out that he is gay and also that he attacks the President and that he also told everyone years ago that Michelle Obama made a "whitey tape". I didn't know what she was talking about but she really seemed to have a personal hatred of your friend because Blondie got most upset when talking about him. The Director got most upset when talking about you however. She called you "Ms Fox" and never said the name Megan. Blondie said Megan and also said your friend's first name, I remember. But the Director kept saying "Ms, Fox" and her tea party colleague. She said that you live in Mokena and your friend lives in Chicago and you both have no business being in their library. I also remember that a jab was made at you for being a homeschooler and for being tea party members and that you should not be hanging out all day with a gay guy with your kids anyway. Why aren't you and him at work? Blondie asked that. Why don't you have jobs? And Blondie made a crack about maybe you should be at home taking care of your kids and not harassing the library. It was a very strange workshop. No one I know who went had a positive response to it. Then afterwards it was pretty much forgotten until March when the brouhaha happened and my boss came racing around telling me that I had to get rid of everything from the workshop. That's when my notes were taken. And now we are back at this again for some reason and I'm being asked if I got rid of all my notes because you are emailing about this again and everyone wants to make sure. My boss said [he/she] got a call about this to make sure. I don't know who the call was from. But I thought you should know because I've never been to a workshop like this where afterwards it was a big thing to collect all the notes and pretend like it never happened. And I never was at a conference where people talked so personally about patrons like you and your friend. That has never happened before and I thought you should know. I do not want any trouble so do not try to contact me or find me. This is the only contact I am going to have with you and I hope you understand and it is the only help I can give you.
Statement by Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE
Washington, DC – Following Utah’s recent resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis, Utah legislators are seeking to protect children from exposure to pornography on the Internet at public libraries. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) commends these efforts, and dispels the myth that computer filters infringe on education.
“Childhood exposure to pornography can have devastating effects, and public libraries must do their part to prevent it,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “Pornography decreases brain matter in areas related to decision making and motivation, shapes the sexual template of the viewer to accept violence against women, and is dangerous to children who are highly susceptible to developing compulsive behaviors and addictions. Further, when patrons are viewing pornography in a library it turns a once safe community setting into a XXX space. This fosters child sexual abuse, sexual assault, exhibitionism, stalking, and lewd behavior, all of which have occurred in libraries in America after patrons watched pornography at libraries. It is therefore vital that libraries install filtering systems to safeguard children.”
“The main opponents to library filters have warped agendas,” Hawkins continued. “The Free Speech Coalition—a pornography industry lobbying association—makes the outdated claim that Internet filters are unable to distinguish between pornographic websites and educational sites about pregnancy and sex education. This is rubbish. Technology has come a long way since the early 1990s. Today’s filtering systems are highly accurate and allow for authentic educational sites to be accessed by all.”
“Further, the Utah Library Association has claimed that the filters suggested by Utah legislators would be redundant since filters are required for forms of federal and state library funding. However, among some library filtering systems currently in use, filtering mechanisms are easily bypassed. Additionally, the American Library Association (ALA) has systematically misinformed libraries that they would be ‘violating First Amendment rights’ to install said filtering, and so, many libraries refrain from using them. The ALA disseminates this misinformation despite the fact that the Supreme Court has upheld that Internet filters at public libraries do not violate First Amendment rights. For this reason the ALA has been placed on NCOSE’s annual Dirty Dozen List for the past four years.”
“Why are these groups so dead set on exposing children to pornography? The porn industry is a big money business seeking consumers, but that doesn’t give them the right to harm the lives of children in their pursuit of profit. As for the ALA, their reckless policy position is an enigma; they steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that the First Amendment is not a license to provide unfettered access to illegal, obscene materials in public settings. Parents, educators, and librarians can learn more about protecting their children and communities for the harms of pornography by visiting our Safe Schools Safe Libraries webpage,” Hawkins concluded.
If you would like to schedule an interview, please contact Haley Halverson at (202) 393-7245 or haley@ncose.com.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national organization dedicated to opposing pornography by highlighting the links to sex trafficking, violence against women, child abuse, and addiction. NCOSE embraces a mission to defend human dignity and to advocate for the universal right of sexual justice, which is freedom from sexual exploitation, objectification, and violence.
