Library Porn Leads To Privacy Screens On San Francisco Library Computers

Posted: July 26, 2012

Library Porn Leads To Privacy Screens On San Francisco Library Computers

As someone who has worked in a number of libraries, I know that library porn can be a huge problem. Libraries do not want to block access to information, even if that information is pornography. At the same time, however, other patrons do not want to know that the creepy guy sitting at the corner computer is surfacing library porn on a public computer. Still, too, in an academic library, the viewing of pornographic materials might be part of legitimate research. So, what is a library supposed to do about library porn?

To address the issue of library porn, the main library in San Francisco is installing new plastic privacy screens on public computers in the hopes that the screens will block out any offending images from everyone else other than the intended viewer.

Adrian Dumont, a regular at the library, considers library porn one of the hazards of using the publicly available computers. As he tells KTVU, “You see a lot of people looking at porn and such.”

He also adds, “It seems kinda messed up, people doing that kinda stuff in a public environment. I mean, people don’t get on the bus and read hustler in front of everybody.”

To block library porn as well as other sensitive materials from anyone walking past the public computers, the library has installed 18 of the privacy screens over the last several weeks.

Libraries strive to provide open and equal access to all patrons. Privacy screens are an alternative to internet filters that block library porn as well as some less scrupulous websites.

As city librarian Luis Herrera comments:

“We’re always looking for any kind of elegant solution that strikes a balance between the right to privacy and folks that want to use the library for any other intended purpose.”

Others, however, disagree with using privacy screens to deal with library porn. As Dawn Hawkins, the executive director of the anti-pornography group Morality in Media, argues:

“I think it’s definitely not enough. Even with those protector screens, people walking directly behind somebody can see porn. I mean porn in the library? There’s no place for that.”

The San Francisco library is happy with the results of the privacy screens and plans to install more.

In the meanwhile, the question still remains about the place of library porn on public computers in libraries. I personally have had to ask a few patrons to quit looking at pornography on a library computer when other patrons complained. Was I disgusted that someone would look at porn in public? Yes. Do I think that looking at porn on a public computer at a library should be banned? To my second question, I can answer with only the following: Who gets to define “pornography,” and, more important, who gets the draw the line defining offensive?

What do you think about the new privacy screens aimed at blocking library porn from general viewing?

Category: News
Tags : library porn, pornography, pornography in libraries, San Francisco
Posted: July 26, 2012

By Heather Johnson

More Posts By Heather Johnson

Comments

3 Archived Responses to “ Library Porn Leads To Privacy Screens On San Francisco Library Computers ”

Dan Kleinman
Jul 27, 2012

The library is lying. Filtering out porn is NOT censorship. The US Supreme Court found it perfectly legal to filter out porn, just like libraries already have book selection policies that filter out porn. Yes, porn may be legal, but a library is NOT an open public forum where anything goes, so the library has reasonable and legal control mechanisms available to it. See:
http://tinyurl.com/ALAdogma

What is going on here is the library leadership is acting like it is the authority. It is not. The people are. He thinks he will act like he knows the law and people will follow along. Joe Walsh's new album, "Analog Man," has a song "Lucky That Way" containing the following message:

I'll let you all in on a little secret.
If I could share with you a thing or two.
If you just act like you know what you're doing.
Everybody thinks that you do.

And that's how the San Francisco library leader is acting, and everybody thinks he's right. He's not. I'll let you all in on a little secret. The library is lying and it knows it is lying. Just look at another library investigative report where, when the library director is finally cornered about her lies, she merely says, well then, "avert your eyes."

San Francisco Bay Area, CA: "Porn, Sex Crimes At Libraries; I-Team Investigation," KGO, 29 Nov 2006, "[T]he Martin Luther King Library has a problem with pornography. They have no rule against viewing photographs or full-screen sex videos from Internet sites, even with children nearby. Chief librarian Jane Light says it's a matter of free speech….. ABC7's Dan Noyes: 'I've seen the [privacy] screens and I see how they work and the stuff is visible from behind. You can see everything.' Jane Light…: 'So you can avert your eyes.'…. San Jose's police blotter over the past year lists several arrests for child porn at the library, at least ten cases of child molestation or other sex crimes involving kids and several cases of men viewing porn and performing a lewd act, right at the terminal….. Sgt. John Laws, San Jose library police: 'It showed him sitting at the computer terminal and… masturbating.'…. Marcia Stacke, Child Quest International: 'You know, sometimes I wonder if we're just too afraid to be, I don't know, sued in this country. We've got to step out and protect our kids. Enough is enough.'".
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=4808374

Apparently enough wasn't enough and the libraries are fooling the public again.

Citizens of San Francisco: your library is misleading you and endangering your community and especially your children, convincing you not to demand legal and effective means to protect yourselves, namely, Internet filters. Privacy screens do not work except to give the library a cover story to appear as if it is taking appropriate action.

Media: If balance is your interest, I have been opposing the ALA on this very issue for over a decade. Contact me:
http://tinyurl.com/AboutDan