[Publib] Librarians required to provide access to porn? was WIRED...

[Diedre Conkling]

Each of us is uncomfortable with or offended by something but usually they are not the same things.  This is part of why it is hard to decide what is pornography and what is obscenity.  Since  only obscenity and child pornography are illegal and not protected by the 1st Amendment this is an important distinction.  

To decide that something is obscene really requires a decision in a court and must meet all three prongs of the Miller Test and not just one, like community standards.  

The information below may be of help.  It is from : 
GUIDELINES AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEVELOPING A PUBLIC LIBRARY INTERNET USE POLICY
American Library Association 
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/otherpolicies/guidelinesinternetuse.pdf
(similar to what was already pointed out by the person posting on CIPA.)

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"Obscenity and child pornography are illegal. Federal and state statutes, the latter varying slightly depending on the jurisdiction, proscribe such materials. The U.S. Supreme Court has settled most questions about what obscenity and child pornography statutes are constitutionally sound.  

According to the Court:

Obscenity must be determined using a three-part test [Miller Test]. To be obscene, (1) the average person,applying contemporary community standards, must find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests; (2) the work must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct as specified in the applicable statutes; and (3) the work, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Child pornography may be determined using a slightly less rigorous test. To be child pornography, the work must involve depictions of sexual conduct specified in the applicable statutes and use images of children below a specified age.

Many states and some localities have “harmful to minors” laws. These laws regulate free speech with respect to minors, typically forbidding the display or dissemination of certain sexually explicit materials to children, as further specified in the laws.......

Knowing what materials are actually obscenity or child pornography is difficult, as is knowing, when minors are involved, and what materials are actually “harmful to minors.” The applicable statutes and laws, together with the written decisions of courts that have applied them in actual cases, are the only official guides. 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.”

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I believe that the ACLU has been working for some time to have a good suit to take on regarding libraries not turning off filters when requested to by an adult.  In the long run I don't think this is really about the libraries but the difficulties that arise under CIPA.

They now have a case in Washington.  This piece from "American Libraries Online" is about the case http://tinyurl.com/y3jav8 and below.:


ACLU Sues Washington Library District over Filtering

Three individuals and the Second Amendment Foundation, a pro-firearm nonprofit group, have engaged the American Civil Liberties Union to represent them in a lawsuit against the Internet filtering policy of the North Central Regional Library, headquartered in Wenatchee, Washington. The challenge centers on NCRL’s use of Secure Computing’s Bess censorware on all its public computers, which the plaintiffs allege has blocked them from viewing constitutionally protected websites. The lawsuit, filed November 16 in U.S. District Court in Spokane, also contends that the library staff refused to disable the filters upon request.
 
“Libraries should not deny adults using publicly available computers the opportunity to view research material and other lawful information,” ACLU Legal Director Sarah Dunne said in a release.

“We want to err on the side of kids,” NCRL Director Dean Marney said in the November 17 Wenatchee World, adding, “The internet is so huge, and we carefully choose the books for our libraries. Shouldn’t we try to be as careful with the internet?” The Associated Press November 16 quoted Marney as saying that federal law did not require the library to grant patron requests to provide unblocked access.

The three individual plaintiffs claim they were prevented from viewing websites on drug and alcohol abuse for a university course, accessing a personal blog on MySpace, and conducting research on art galleries and health issues. The Second Amendment Foundation, located in Bellevue, Washington, contends that NCRL blocks access to its magazine Women and Guns, which covers such topics as self-defense, recreational shooting, and weapons-related legal issues.

The lawsuit asks the court to require the library to disable the filters when requested by an adult for research or other lawful purposes. The NCRL system has 28 branches in five central Washington counties.

Posted November 17, 2006.


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Diedre Conkling
     
  Lincoln County Library District
  P.O. Box 2027, Newport, OR  97365
  Phone & Fax:  541-265-3066
  http://lcld.library-blogs.net/
  Work:  diedre at beachbooks.org
  Home:  diedrec at charter.net