SCN: Filters

[patrick]

But there are people who can afford a computer, and really anyone can get a
computer these days. I have a P-90 that is a doorstop, but works great and they
go for real cheap.

A hog is a hog.

Patrick
--- Irene Mogol <bn890 at scn.org> wrote:
> Not everybody can afford to buy a computer so they use the Public
> Libraries, the same way people go to the libraries to use encyclopedias
> and other reference materals.
> And some people just don't want computers at home for whatever their
> reasons.  
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 4 Jun 2001, patrick wrote:
> 
> > It's too bad these people can't get their own computers at home, as cheap
> as
> > they are, they have to come to the library and hog access. Of course, the
> > Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System impose time
> limits on
> > access. I frequently go to the library and I literally see the same people
> > hogging the computers. Maybe they have multiple library cards??? Okay, some
> > can't afford them, I am sure, but some of them appear to be able
> to...hmmmm.
> > 
> > Patrick
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --- Steve <steve at advocate.net> wrote:
> > > x-no-archive: yes  
> > > 
> > > =========================  
> > > 
> > > 
> > > (Carl S. Kaplan, NY Times)---In early 1997, the Minneapolis Public 
> > > Library began giving its patrons unfettered and unlimited access to 
> > > the Internet. The library's First Amendment-inspired policy was 
> > > intended to provide a needed service to the community. But Wendy 
> > > Adamson, a reference desk librarian at the library's central branch, 
> > > said it effectively made her working life a nightmare, and federal 
> > > officials appear poised to agree with her.   
> > > 
> > > Acting on complaints from Adamson and other librarians at the city's 
> > > central branch library, the Equal Employment Opportunity 
> > > Commission's Minneapolis office ruled last week that the library, by 
> > > exposing its staff to sexually explicit images on unrestricted 
> > > computer terminals, may have allowed for a hostile work 
> > > environment. The blockbuster finding, issued on May 23 following 
> > > an investigation by the agency, came in response to complaints 
> > > filed a year ago by Adamson and 11 of her colleagues.   
> > > 
> > > Free speech advocates quickly expressed concern that the 
> > > E.E.O.C.'s decision is a dangerous precedent that could pressure 
> > > libraries to aggressively monitor patrons' viewing habits or install 
> > > filtering software as a means to ward off potential discrimination 
> > > suits. But Adamson and Bob Halagan, the lawyer for the librarians, 
> > > hailed the commission's finding as a victory for common sense.   
> > > 
> > > Adamson said the complaints were filed only after she and other 
> > > librarians repeatedly notified library officials about their concerns 
> > > and detailed what they said were the new policy's negative impact 
> > > on staff and patrons.   
> > > 
> > > "Our downtown library became a club for a large number of men who 
> > > were viewing pornography all day," Adamson, who has been a 
> > > librarian for over 30 years, said in an interview. "I'd see these men 
> > > at the door at 9 a.m. and some of them would still be there at 9 at 
> > > night."   
> > > 
> > > Adamson said that while she was sitting at her workplace and doing 
> > > her job, she would look up and see "horrible" stuff on the screens of 
> > > nearby terminals. "I'm talking about torture and sex with animals," 
> > > she said. It was "really demoralizing and depressing."   
> > > 
> > > Computer printouts of sexually explicit pictures littered the library, 
> > > Adamson said. She said she saw some men at computer terminals 
> > > engage in what appeared to her to be masturbation and that 
> > > computer users would verbally abuse her when she tried to enforce 
> > > time limits.   
> > > 
> > > The worst part of her day, she said, was watching, helplessly, as 
> > > members of the public -- including children -- encountered unwanted 
> > > sexual images on terminals. Often, she said, a patron who wanted to 
> > > do conventional research would approach a terminal and find that it 
> > > was locked onto a sexually explicit site -- owing to a "quicksand" 
> > > feature some porn sites use that prevents users from leaving the 
> > > site. She said she repeatedly had to calm the patrons and reset the 
> > > terminal's browser.   
> > > 
> > > "We were told [by administrators] to avert our eyes. But we were 
> > > surrounded by it," she said, adding that library officials did not 
> > > respond to staff complaints about the policy.   
> > > 
> > > The director of the Minneapolis Public Library, Mary L. Lawson, did 
> > > not return telephone calls. The library's spokesperson released a 
> > > statement, attributed to Lawson, stating that the library would not 
> > > comment on the E.E.O.C.'s finding until it had the opportunity to 
> > > consult with its lawyer and trustees.   
> > > 
> > > The statement noted, however, that last spring the library adopted 
> > > revised guidelines for Internet use. Among other things, the new 
> > > guidelines include time limits, sign-up procedures requiring 
> > > identification, posted notices prohibiting illegal Internet activity and 
> > > enforcement procedures.   
> > > 
> > > The E.E.O.C.'s ruling, called a "determination," is a preliminary 
> > > conclusion by the agency that there is reason to believe 
> > > discrimination occurred. The commission will next attempt to 
> > > resolve the matter through mediation. Adamson said the E.E.O.C. 
> > > had privately suggested to the library that it pay each of the 12 
> > > employees $75,000 in damages.   
> > > 
> > > If the agency's mediation efforts fail -- if the library declines to
> enter 
> > > settlement discussions or if the E.E.O.C. is unable to secure an 
> > > acceptable settlement -- the matter may be sent to the Department of 
> > > Justice for possible prosecution. In addition, the librarians may elect 
> > > to directly sue the library in court.   
> > > 
> > > David Rucker, an enforcement supervisor for the E.E.O.C.'s 
> > > Minneapolis office, declined to confirm or deny the E.E.O.C.'s 
> > > investigation of the library, citing his office's policy of 
> > > confidentiality.   
> > > 
> > > Jan LaRue, senior director of legal studies for the conservative 
> > > Family Research Council, which has consistently lobbied for 
> > > governmental regulation of Internet decency, said that the E.E.O.C.'s 
> > > finding will make libraries across the country "sit up and take 
> > > notice."   
> > > 
> > > "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.   
> > > 
> > > "The Minneapolis Public Library's current policy is to tell people, 
> > > 'Don't touch the paint,'" LaRue said. "But people still touch the paint. 
> > > It's much more effective to keep [sexually explicit images] from 
> > > coming up on the screen as much as possible."   
> > > 
> > > Eugene Volokh, a law professor at U.C.L.A. who has written 
> > > extensively about the Internet, free speech and workplace 
> > > harassment law, agreed that the E.E.O.C.'s finding would put 
> > > pressure on library trustees to adopt filtering. He added, however, 
> > > that he disagreed with the government's policy of forcing libraries, 
> > > under the threat of discrimination law penalties, to restrict the 
> > > freedom of library users to view legally protected but offensive 
> > > material.   
> > > 
> > > Of course, a library that uses filtering software on all its terminals 
> > > risks inviting -- and losing -- a First Amendment lawsuit, Volokh said, 
> > > alluding to a 1998 federal district court decision declaring that the 
> > > filtering policy of a public library in Loudoun County, Va., was 
> > > unconstitutional.   
> > > 
> > > But losing a First Amendment lawsuit will subject a library to 
> > > "nominal damages," Volokh said. Losing a Title VII discrimination 
> > > lawsuit can result in damages "with lots of zeros in it," he said. 
> > > Faced with the choice between two equally hazardous legal 
> > > alternatives, library trustees will logically opt to install filters and 
> > > ward off harassment suits with potentially massive damages, he 
> > > said.   
> > > 
> > > Ann Beeson, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who 
> > > specializes in cyberlaw cases, said that a charge of sexual 
> > > harassment is often used as a pretext to justify library filtering. The 
> > > Loudoun County library's filtering scheme was cast in the form of 
> > > anti-harassment policy, she said. But the judge in that case found 
> > > that there was no hard evidence that any librarian was at substantial 
> > > risk of harassment from viewing sexual images. Beeson said that, 
> > > even today, millions of library patrons use unrestricted Internet 
> > > terminals without harming librarians. In any case, she said, there 
> > > are better ways to avoid a hostile environment for librarians than the 
> > > use of filtering. Acceptable means include the use of blinders or 
> > > "privacy screens" on terminals.   
> > > 
> > > A new law that requires public libraries and schools that receive 
> > > federal telecommunications funds to install Internet blocking 
> > > software goes into effect in July, 2002. The federal law was 
> > > challenged on First Amendment grounds in March by the ACLU and 
> > > the American Library Association. Still, Halagan, the librarians' 
> > > lawyer in the Minneapolis matter, said that it is a mistake for people 
> > > to reduce the Minneapolis controversy to a filtering vs. non-filtering 
> > > debate. "As a matter of fact, my clients are split on the subject," he 
> > > said.   
> > > 
> > > "What this determination will do is cause other libraries to think 
> > > about what obligations they have [to their employees] and to 
> > > balance that with the First Amendment," he said. "The answer could 
> > > be separate computers for children, filtering, limiting printer access, 
> > > posting notices or working with local police. It's a complex issue." 
> > > Halagan said that the Minneapolis library's revised policy, which 
> > > went into effect shortly after his clients filed their complaints, has 
> > > resulted in a much-improved work climate, but that more needed to 
> > > be done.   
> > > 
> > > For her part, Adamson said that she hopes the ruling will empower 
> > > other librarians who feel harassed to speak up.   
> > > 
> > > "Our experience will be felt by other people in other libraries," she 
> > > predicted. She said that when speaking about this subject, she could 
> > > not help recalling an incident when she was helping 12-year old girl 
> > > with a term paper. She said they were standing by a bookcase, their 
> > > backs to a computer terminal. Adamson said that, when she turned 
> > > and saw that the user of the nearby computer was looking at a 
> > > picture of a "naked woman tied up," she thought up a ruse to escort 
> > > the girl to another part of the library so she would not see the 
> > > picture. "This happened all the time. It was so stressful."   
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company  
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
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