Tools and information regarding internet filters in public libraries.
| American Library Association administrators funded by the Playboy Foundation, turn our public libraries into "dirty book stores" to protect their patron's profits. .... In 1998 there were at least 245 nonconsensual child victims, due to reckless libraries documented in the "Dangerous Access" report to congress. .... Despite the fanciful American Library Association hysteria about children's right to "information," most rational Americans want pornography filtered from our libraries. |
And lots more information here: |
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After several years of public
debate, the controversy over whether
to filter taxpayer-funded computers in our public libraries rumbles
on. While some local libraries in our communities have installed
filtering safeguards [mostly on children's computers] many library
Boards refuse to even consider filters, claiming that doing so
violates the First Amendment free access to all information or that
filtering software has not yet reached perfection. |
2004-05-10: Library Computers and Filters ARLENE SAWICKI - is a Catholic lay activist on pro-life and pro-family issues in the state of Illinois. She speaks here of the misguided influence of the ALA on public library policy across the U.S. |
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A librarian tackles the ALA and fellow librarians with this cogent article... For whatever reason, many of my colleagues refuse to accept the concept of a selection policy for Internet resources. I am told this is censorship. However many of these same folks use a selection policy for collection development. What is the difference? |
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| Kansas creates a library-friendly alternative to cope
with the Children's Internet Protection Act In an attempt to satisfy the requirements of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) without unduly restricting library users' access to online information, Kansas has accomplished something no other state has: it's created its own Internet filter. Since December 2003, about 60 of the state's 330 public libraries have used the KanGuard filter, free of charge, through a proxy server set up through the Kansas State Library, says Thomas Reddick, the automation coordinator of the North East Kansas Library System (NEKLS) and one of the creators of KanGuard. |
2004-03-01: A Filter That Lets Good Information In - by Walter Minkel | TechKnowledge | ||||||||||||
| FAQ on E-rate Compliance with the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act (NCIPA) | |||||||||||||
| March 25 (2003) – Associated
Press Twelve Minneapolis librarians have launched a federal lawsuit against the city claiming their jobs forced them into hostile, sexually harassing situations. At issue is the library system’s Internet use policies, which did not provide enough protections for the librarians. They claim they tried repeatedly to get the library to change its policies, but got no response. An investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found probable cause that federal law was being broken, but the Justice Department dropped the case.3 |
2004-01-15: National Pornography Developments – 2003 ...including numerous other tales of sexual predators,molesters, and rapists |
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| "Internet Filtering - What have you done for me lately?" - a Powerpoint presentation | |||||||||||||
| Laws Relating to Filtering, Blocking and Usage Policies in Schools and Libraries |
LINKS TO THE LAWS OF ALL 21 STATES!! |
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Ever hear someone argue about the inability of web filters to look at web based images? Well, hogwash!!! First of all, we already know that web-filtering is 90% effective. Add to that the fact that pages from "inapropriate.com" having the inappropriate images are already being blocked because of the known character of that site, and we've got a pretty good percentage of the remainder. But for those still in doubt... |
Read this informative response by web filtering company FilterLogix | ||||||||||||
| The ALA opposes any restrictions on access to pornography | ...even for children! | ||||||||||||
Summaries of 50 States, Dist. Of Columbia showing how in each state public libaries may be subject to lawsuit if they do NOT prevent minors from gaining access to pornography. Statutes usually apply to both print materials and Internet Images |
Alliance for Children in Communities (CCI) *** Amazing documentation on public libraries and what really happens there!! |
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| PC Magazine article - [excerpt] In August, the Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation released a study revealing that the least restrictive filters
correctly
blocked
87 percent
of pornography
and incorrectly blocked 1.4 percent of sites containing health information
and 9 percent of sexual-health sites. The most restrictive filters blocked
24 percent of legitimate health sites, 50 percent of sexual-health sites,
and 91 percent of pornography sites. |
2003-10-28:
Libraries Face Up to Filters - by Alexandra Robbins | PC Magazine |
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| MEMORANDUM OF LEGAL OPINION: Library Procedures for Disabling Software Filtering and Unblocking Web Sites | 2003-08-25: Concerned Women for America provides these comments for consideration by public library officials with respect to implementing software filtering requirements in conformity to 21 U.S.C. 2134 and the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. American Library Association (ALA), No. 02-361, 2003 U.S. LEXIS 4799 (June 23, 2003), upholding the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). | ||||||||||||
MINNEAPOLIS (MN) - The city's public library will consider using Internet filters to restrict patrons' access to online porn, and will pay $435,000 to a dozen librarians who said easy access to the images resulted in a hostile work environment, the librarians' lawyer said Friday. Among other measures, the officials said they would consider Internet filters and an increase in the penalties for those who violate the library's Internet policy. The library did not admit any wrongdoing. |
2003-08-15: Minn. Librarians Settle Internet Porn Case - Librarians win!!! |
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| Wichita (KS) Public Library comply with the mandates of the federal CIPA ruling. Motion carried unanimously. | |||||||||||||
Another example of how the ALA is NOT a friend of the public... In closing an interview with an ALA representative, I asked whether the organization had ever considered recommending the use of very poor filter software–one that caught next to nothing and updated rarely. Pausing, he responded, “We may now.” |
2003-06-30: Public Libraries Face Net Filtering Following Supreme Court Decision - by Barbara Quint | ||||||||||||
| American Library Association is No Friend of Our Children | by Don S. Otis | ||||||||||||
| "The interest in protecting young library users from material inappropriate for minors is legitimate, and even compelling," wrote Chief Justice William Rehnquist, "as all Members of the Court appear to agree," including the minority on the other side of the 6-to-3 decision. | Freedom At Risk | ||||||||||||
| "Internet
terminals are not acquired by a library in order to create a public
forum for Web publishers to express themselves.
Rather, a library provides such access for the same reasons it offers
other library resources: to facilitate research, learning, and recreational
pursuits by furnishing materials of requisite and appropriate quality." |
2003-06-23: U.S. Supreme Court - United States et al. v. American Library Association, Inc., et al. | ||||||||||||
Ottawa (Ontario) Library Board caves in to pressure from city council and the public. 'They listened to the community and … from that perspective that's a really good reason to make a change' —Head librarian Barbara Clubb OTTAWA - The Ottawa Public Library Board voted Wednesday night to put Internet filters on all its public computers, after rejecting the idea just two weeks ago. |
2003-05-01: Internet filters approved by library board 2003-04-24: Library board told to reconsider Internet filtering |
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| In March of 2001, Florida public libraries were surveyed to identify the approaches taken by local communities in dealing with the issue of display or access of obscene images on library public access Internet computers and a report was prepared presenting the results. That report was updated in 2002 and the results of a March 2003 update are presented here. | 2003-03-24: Florida Public Library Internet Policies & Filtering |
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Kaiser Foundation Study - Internet Filters Can Successfully Block Most Pornography While Allowing Health Information, Depending on How Schools and Libraries Configure Them |
2002-12-10: This study done of 6 filters showed that at the most restrictive settings, filters blocked 24% of health sites--which might be used by teenagers for research or such... but at the least restrictive setting, they only blocked 1.4% of those sites. At the same time, at the most restrictive settings, they blocked 91% of legitimate pornography, but at the least, they still blocked 87%. | ||||||||||||
| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ET AL., APPELLANTS
v. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, ET AL. |
Whoa... hard hitting testimony!!! |
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Rescue the library workers!! "When libraries face up to
the fact that they face a loss of revenues" from potential
discrimination suits, they will begin to restrict patrons' access
to sexually explicit material on the Internet, she said. LaRue said
that
she believed
nothing less than filtering software will solve the problem of a
library's hostile work environment. |
2001-06-01: E.E.O.C ruling against Minneapolis Public Library |
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Michigan Family Group Hails EEOC Ruling on Library Internet Porn "Library employees are responsible for implementing the Internet Use Guidelines. Library employees are expected to take prompt and appropriate action to enforce the Internet Use Guidelines, and are authorized to terminate an Internet use session by anyone who fails to comply," the policy reads. [LINK] Forcing typically female library employees to first witness pornography use onscreen, and then confront the typically male Internet porn user, clearly creates a sexually offensive work environment that would not be tolerated in any other workplace, Glenn said. |
Follow-up: Librarians win -- filters installed!!! 2002-04: Sex in the City - What happened at the Minneapolis Public Library - by Wendy Adamson 2001-05-25: E.E.O.C ruling against Minneapolis (MN) Public Library |
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| Despite vocal opposition by some members of the (Montgomery
County, Conroe TX) community, including local librarians, filters eventually
were installed. They've been in place a little over a year, so the time
has come to ask - how are they working?
The answer you get depends upon who you're talking to. Bonnie Boorman, branch manager of the library in The Woodlands, originally was opposed to the idea of filters, but now admits they have worked better than she expected. "I like the filter," Boorman says. "It has allowed lot of freedom for searching but hasn't denied necessary information." |
2001-03: Internet Filters...Do they work?...Do we want them? - a success story by Pat Smith | Bulletin Times staff writer | ||||||||||||
| ...proponents of the law argue that blocking technology
has evolved, and both server-based and user-based technology are
highly effective at blocking pornographic material while allowing
for the selection of legitimate research materials. |
2001-02-09: "Congress has broad national powers to put restrictions on federal money," Miss LaRue (FRC) says, "and Internet filtering is a reasonable measure we can all live with." | ||||||||||||
Excerpts: Opponents of filtering say the software has too many anomalies, such as "overblocking" Websites for chicken-breast recipes or the county of Middlesex. Such examples often are based on first-generation word-association software rather than state-of-the-art products. They reflect the astonishingly persistent disinformation campaign waged by filtering opponents. The ACLU/ALA strategy is fairly straightforward: By relentlessly publicizing the "anomaly of the week," they distract attention from the inherent absurdity of their own demand - that only a perfect filter is acceptable in the imperfect world of computers. They would have us believe that a single overblocked site is a more significant anomaly than an entire generation of schoolchildren given free and easy access to the crudest of hard-core pornography. It's easy to see why 92 percent of the public disagrees with them. |
2001-02-05:
Q: Are Internet filters needed on computers in public libraries and
schools? Yes: It's time for libraries to listen to the concernsof their local communities - by Bruce Watson | Insight on the News |
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The citizens of Greenville, South Carolina, were shocked last December to read a story in the local newspaper reporting that their tax dollars were being used to fund obscenity in, of all places, the public library. [clip] In graphic detail, the report told of children attempting to complete school projects while men beside them gawked at all forms of perversion. But every American should take note of what happened next. When citizens complained, the library director shrugged it off, saying that the First Amendment gives people the right to see anything they want on the Internet, including pornography. Well, a firestorm erupted. Church and civic leaders organized, determined to take back their library. Congressman Jim DeMint urged citizens to flood the library board with complaints. But despite the uprising, the board and its director balked, refusing to install software to filter obscene material from computers. This time the citizens turned to the Greenville County Council, which appoints the library board, and they got action. Six of the eleven library board members were replaced. The new board fired the director and launched a study to find out how bad the situation really was. What they found should send shivers through every community in America. |
2000-08-09:
The ALA's Addiction to Porn IT'S A TEXTBOOK CASE OF WHAT CITIZENS CAN ACCOMPLISH WITHIN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM. |
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| MIM Supports Internet Filtering in NYC Public Libraries | 2000-01-27: by Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media | Address to the Youth Committee of the New York City Council | ||||||||||||
| "Federal tax dollars should never be used to poison
our children or provide free pornography for adults," Dole
said during a visit to a library in Bellevue, Washington. |
1999-06-29: Liddy Dole - Put a lid on Libraries | ||||||||||||
The
(so-called) "WRONGLY BLOCKED" SITES CONCLUSION |
1999-04-04: Discussion of "studies" concerning filtering in public libraries | ||||||||||||
Librarians DO CENSOR!! We believe that libraries have the right to offer the kind of Internet service they want. We do not believe that libraries are obligated to offer everything on the Internet. We believe in exercising selection of Internet resources. We believe in exercising our professional judgment in the use of the Internet. Filtering Facts began, appropriately enough, on the Internet. Filtering was attacked by many in our profession. A few librarians spoke up on library discussion lists in defense of filtering, and we were attacked too. We were censured by our colleagues and called censors. Our point of view was excluded at ALA conferences. But we would not remain silent. |
1997-07-16: Announcing a new organization and website, Filtering Facts |
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Understanding filters and filtering technology (including filter reviews):
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Court cases:
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