Public Breaks Into Applause for Library Board that Unanimously Voted for Internet Filters to Stop Porn Viewing in Public Library

Another library has added Internet filters to stop porn viewing.  With the constant message from the American Library Association [ALA] that Internet filters do not work, will never work 100%, filter out breast cancer, and generally violate people's First Amendment rights, I thought I would point out that not all libraries are taken in by those false messages.  Here's the latest to see through the ALA's misdirection:

"Shiawassee District Library Adopts Internet Policy,"

by Michael Peterson,

The Argus-Press,

13 November 2009.

The public, hearing the unanimous decision of the library to add Internet filters, broke into applause.  They broke into applause!  A local community gets to protect children legally in their own public library and they break into applause!

The Shiawassee District Library Board adopted a revised Internet policy Wednesday night that requires filtering on the organization's public computers, closing the book on a nearly six-month controversy on how the SDL should handle online content.

After the policy was unanimously passed by the Board, many of the residents who packed into the downstairs children's library portion of the Owosso branch broke into applause.

I've written before on this community in "7-1 Vote FOR Internet Filters in Owosso, MI," 4 July 2009.

Read the Argus-Press article carefully.  See that the filters will be disabled temporarily upon request.  This is perfect under the law called CIPA.

Then, the community takes another welcome departure from the ALA.  The ALA says you have to disable any site and that's it.  CIPA says, and now Shiawassee District Library says, that even after the filters are disabled, if the computers are then used in a manner that essentially violates the spirit of the policy, such as by viewing obscenity, the filters will be reapplied.  Fabulous!

Patrons also may request a particular site be unblocked, but only if the site does not include “obscene or sexually explicit material.” A site will be reviewed for content before it is permanently unblocked from the filter.

If a patron violates the policy, library officials may terminate or limit that person's computer or Internet access; dismiss the patron from the premises; or suspend the person's access to library facilities for a set period of time. The library also reserves the right to contact the local police if necessary.

"Contact the local police"!  Fabulous!  Another departure from the ALA or the rules set by its local acolytes!  For example, see my blog posts:

• "Child Porn Trafficking in Public Libraries; Libraries Actively Thwart Child Porn Investigations"
• "Libraries Aid and Abet Pedophiles, Destroy Evidence, Retaliate Against Whistle Blowers, Claim Dubious Privacy and Free Speech Rights; ALA At Fault"

Will citizens in your community break into applause when they too get to legally protect their own children despite the heavy pressure and misinformation from the ALA?  Let Owosso, MI, be your guide!

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ALA is Duplicitous and Fraudulent, Censors Whomever It Wants, Suppresses Intellectual Freedom, and Joins the Jihad

The title of this blog post is strongly worded. Not a single one of those descriptions is made up. They come directly from the American Library Association's [ALA] latest censorship victim or his attorney. It's unbelievable how the ALA gets away with this given it is the nation's self-arrogated "censorship" police.

Is the ALA trying to convince your community to sidestep legal means to protect children, like in Owosso, MI? Is the ALA telling your community not to "censor"? Is "Banned Books Week" promoted heavily? Do you think the ALA is authoritative? Then you need to know exactly how two-faced is the ALA.

Fully read the following from the attorney for the latest of the ALA's censorship victims—your eyes will pop out:

• "The American Library Association's Stealth Jihad Against Free Speech," by William J. Becker, Jr., FrontPage Magazine, 9 October 2009.

And hear directly from the victim of the ALA's scorn:

• "The American Library Association Joins the Jihad," by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, 9 October 2009.

See also my previous blog post on this topic when it first occurred, and also the comments where I link to the ALA making more excuses, and I renew my call for the ALA to include the speaker it censored at the next opportunity:

• "Proof of ALA Pro-Terrorist Censorship; ALA Challenged to Explain and to Include Censored Speaker Next Time,"by SafeLibraries, SafeLibraries, 23 July 2009.

Hey, ALA! You read my blog posts, do you have anything to say about this? Deborah-Caldwell Stone, you decry "censorship" to convince communities to leave children unprotected by legal means available to protect them, can you please comment on this ALA censorship matter? The ALA looks really bad right now; somebody better say something to explain or correct the ALA's "suppression of intellectual freedom."

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7-1 Vote FOR Internet Filters in Owosso, MI

A library board has voted 7-1 in favor of installing Internet filters. Here's likely why:

• "The Shiawassee District Library's adult content policies came under scrutiny in May when Owosso resident Catherine Loxen told the Board her granddaughter witnessed a man using a computer to view adult material earlier this year."
  

• "'I went up to two of the unfiltered computers and did a history check,' Spencer said. 'I was curious to see if people were seeing any type of pornography still on the computers.' Spencer said the history search revealed that several Web sites may have been used for child pornography - which is illegal and against library policy."

It is refreshing to see a library board acting with common sense. And to the lone person who said, "Once you start filtering, it leads into the free speech issue," please read US v. ALA.

See: "Owosso Library Moves to Regulate Porn Viewing," by Nathan Bruttell, The Argus-Press, 3 July 2009, reprinted here under US Copyright Section 107 Fair Use:

Owosso Library Moves to Regulate Porn Viewing
By NATHAN BRUTTELL
Argus-Press Staff Writer
Friday, July 3, 2009 10:04 AM EDT

OWOSSO - The Shiawassee District Library Board has begun the process toward regulating adult material at the Owosso branch.

The Board voted 7-1 during is June meeting to filter online content. Travis Senk cast the lone dissenting vote. Shiawassee District Library Director Steven Flayer said he is researching optional online filters and would present them to the Board at its July 22 meeting.

“The Board has also directed me to increase the physical barriers around the unfiltered computers, which we have been doing,” Flayer said, adding that the measures for changing the library's policy may continue.

“I think the Board will look at this matter again (at the next meeting) to determine whether it's meeting the needs of our patrons,” he said.

The Shiawassee District Library's adult content policies came under scrutiny in May when Owosso resident Catherine Loxen told the Board her granddaughter witnessed a man using a computer to view adult material earlier this year.

Senk said while he wasn't happy with what happened with Loxen, he didn't agree the library Board should be the authority.

“I don't think limiting what everyone else can do is a fair response. I feel that if we start trying to filter everything we're going to be in violation of library policy acts,” Senk said. “Once you start filtering, it leads into the free speech issue.”

Loxen's story also brought the attention of local Internet filtering company Covenant Eyes. Vice president Bill Spencer presented information to the Board at its June meeting.

“I went up to two of the unfiltered computers and did a history check,” Spencer said. “I was curious to see if people were seeing any type of pornography still on the computers.”

Spencer said the history search revealed that several Web sites may have been used for child pornography - which is illegal and against library policy.

“What I told the Board is basically that there isn't anybody that would believe these images were not of young people under the age of 18,” Spencer said.

Spencer added he asked the Board about the library's policy of not allowing access to child pornography.

“The library, in its policy, has defined what obscenity is, yet for some reason (the Board members) think it's wrong to filter the Internet content,” he said.

Flayer said to his recollection, the Board could not make changes because Spencer could not present facts that the subjects of the Web sites were underage.

“He was basing his findings, the way he presented it to the Board, that it was child pornography based on how old he though the models looked,” Flayer said. “Of course we're attempting to eliminate these things, but it's not going to be perfect.”

Flayer said the library has begun to filter content on most of the computers in the library using current software.

“(Covenant Eyes) states on its own Web site that no filter is going to be 100 percent effective,” Flayer said. “How can they complain that our filter is not getting everything after saying that? The effort is being made to limit it as much as possible.”

Adult Services Librarian and assistant director Margaret Bentley said while she understands the problem, it is out of her hands.

“Whatever the Board decides, I will have to follow,” Bentley said.

Durand Memorial branch librarian and assistant director Nancy Folaron said she has not seen issues with adult content at the Durand branch.

“We only have seven computers and all of them are fairly close to the desk, so we can keep an eye on them,” Folaron said. “It's not like the Owosso branch where the computers are in a separate area and out of view.”

Folaron also said the branch currently uses no filtering software, but would make appropriate changes based on the Board's July vote.

Senk said he believed the issue might be continue at the library for some time.

“We're not done working on it at the library,” Senk said. “It's a complex issue and it's not solved easily.”

Copyright © 2007-2009 The Argus-Press Owosso, MI

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