A pop quiz for parents: What does your child do at the public library?
a) Check out books;
b) Research homework assignments;
c) Download pornographic pictures;
d) Shoot the librarian.
I know, you’re stuck between (a) and (d). Wrong, it’s (C)–download pornography. Not that your child does–I’m sure he doesn’t–but some do. More to the point, any child can.
Thanks to our current infatuation with the idea that every man, woman and child should have Internet access–as though magically the national IQ will soar–children now have unfettered access to pornography at most public libraries.
Our national IQ, meanwhile, is plummeting. Admittedly, it’s a short drop. So short, in fact, hardly anyone will notice.
One brilliant exception is a Livermore, Calif., mother who is suing her local public library for failing to restrict Internet access such that her 12-year-old son brought home a photographic portfolio Bob Guccione would envy.
The mother, identified only as Kathleen P. (no relation) in court papers, asks that Livermore officials be barred from using public money on the city’s public library computer system as long as minors can use it to find sexual material.
Naturally, city attorneys intend to fight Kathleen P. on grounds that restricting access to pornography tramples free speech rights.
Incredibly, the city is supported by the National Library Association, as well as, of course, the American Civil Liberties Union. Neither organization supports filtering programs, such as SurfWatch, Cyber Patrol and X-Stop to block access to dubious Web sites lest someone be denied important educational information regarding the human anatomy.
I don’t know whom they’re worried about. Surely aspiring gynecologists have other resources should they decide to pursue such course of study.
According to the NLA’s Bill of Rights, the use of filters, “which block constitutionally protected material is inconsistent with the United States Constitution.”
Yadda, yadda, yadda. Quel fly bait.
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The signers of the Constitution must be begging for just one day of reincarnation so they can come down here and slap these silly people.
Clearly, no one putting pen to parchment 200-odd years ago anticipated the Information Highway or “Tight Beautiful Women in the Buff,” which is the second offering any child will find under the search word “women.” The first offers information on lesbian health, just FYI.
Type in “toy”–a good kid word–and pull the drapes. With some search engines, the third entry under “toy” is: “Sex toys buzzers vibrators . . .” and so on. Click on the title and you, your grandmother or your little girl can see these educational devices put to use. These aren’t just “nekkid” ladies, for you innocents out there. These are explicit sex acts that would cause most children nightmares or worse.
Such are our free speech rights.
Some communities, responding to parental concerns, have added filters to computers designated for children’s use. But even the best of these measures falls short of adequate protection. In Santa Clara County, Calif., for instance, the library board voted recently to have filters installed in the children’s area, but refused to set age restrictions on computers without filters.
This is problematic for teens and adults who may not want to conduct their research in the children’s section. My teenage son would rather flunk out of school than be spotted beneath the “Where the Wild Things Are” mural at our library.
Some policymakers endowed with power but, sadly, not wisdom seem to think this is just another parental problem. When asked how to stop children tempted by “adult” computers, Barbara Conant, Santa Clara County board chairwoman, replied: “You would hope that parents would have trained their children not to do that.”
Not to do what? Look up “toys” on the Internet?
The immediate solution, at least until we summon the courage to define “obscenity” and get pornography off public airwaves, is to put filters on all library computers save for one or two restricted for “medical” research by adults or children with parental permission.
It’s not perfect, but it’s the least we should do.