infoTECH News

[November 19, 2009]

EDITORIAL: Libraries versus porn

Nov 19, 2009 (News and Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- There is no accounting for the bad taste and horrible judgment of the adults who use Greensboro Public Library computers to watch Internet porn within the view of innocent children.

But they do, and some incensed parents have rightly reported the incidents to library staff.

As the News & Record's Lorraine Ahearn reported on Sunday, 89 individuals were caught viewing pornographic Web sites on Central Library computers over the first six months of 2009. While that's a tiny fraction of the 195,000 patrons who use library's computers each year, it's still 89 too many.

The library has a protocol in these cases. Offenders are warned. If the warning is ignored the person is banned for one day. Then for 30 days. Ultimately, chronic offenders are banned from the library altogether and face trespassing charges if they ignore the ban.

The library also has explored technology as a solution. But anyone whose home computer spam filter has mistakenly pitched an important e-mail into the junk mail folder knows the drawbacks. Patrons accidentally may be blocked from access to legitimate Web sites whose names or keywords may appear pornographic to the filter.

Still, the library keeps searching for a happier medium and may have found one. Called a "bandwidth shaper, " the device essentially makes viewing porn much more difficult by slowing the flow of information from certain sources to the point that it becomes excruciating.

Like a filter, the bandwidth shaper can misread a valid source as Internet porn. Further, librarians tend to defend the First Amendment as fiercely as newspaper people.

But there have to be reasonable limits. The library rightly has promoted the bandwidth shaper from pilot project to standard procedure. The occasional burps in that technology are a small price to pay for family-friendly libraries.

Library Director Sandy Neerman also says more effective computer monitoring is being factored into the design of new branches. The computers won't be clustered as they are now and their screens will be within clear view from nearly every angle by library staff.

For good measure, the library is eliminating the concept of counters that separate librarians from patrons. In the new facilities, staff will be stationed among patrons, not separate from them.

In the meantime, there's no substitute for parental supervision. Even libraries shouldn't be viewed as surrogate day cares where children may be dropped off and blissfully forgotten for hours at a time. Parents still should keep a watchful eye on their children's computer use -- and the use of nearby adults -- and report any violators to library staff or security.

The library, in turn, should remind these miscreants of the rules, and if that doesn't work, suggest that they add the bold, red letters "EXIT" to their reading lists.

To see more of the News & Record or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.news-record.com. Copyright (c) 2009, News and Record, Greensboro, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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