Mr. Doug Meier’s
”
nod
”
to Sandi Zappa and me, published April 9, contains several
errors, in addition to the usual gratuitous name-calling.
Mr. Doug Meier’s “nod” to Sandi Zappa and me, published April 9, contains several errors, in addition to the usual gratuitous name-calling.
We never asked the library to filter all the Internet terminals. Our four-point proposal was and is:
1) Filter the children’s side. This was done, with the added bonus that the adult terminals had optional filtering installed, huzzah.
2) Install an introductory screen with words that make it clear that obscenity and child pornography are illegal and may not be viewed, and that harmful matter (e.g. Playboy) is illegal for minors, and may not be viewed by, distributed to, or displayed to minors.
An introductory screen was indeed installed. I have no idea whether it is still a part of the library internet viewing experience or whether it was quietly deleted during the last five years. The wording, courtesy of County Counsel Ann Ravel, was verbose, profuse, and clear as mud. I seriously doubt that it ever deterred porn-surfing.
3) Have all Internet terminal screens in full view of the public. This proposal was certainly not implemented in Gilroy, where many terminals are backed up against shelves. Instead, head librarian Lani Yoshimura persists in a policy of providing privacy screens.
Indeed, every word Lani ever utters on the issue reflects her over-riding concern with privacy; for example, as quoted in Eric Leins’s article of April 2: “We may have some people still doing it [looking to see if others are porn surfing] silently, but my real sense is that people honor each other’s privacy.”
4) Adopt an Acceptable Usage Policy that prohibits the viewing of pornography in the library. This, alas, was not done. Instead, the JPA reaffirmed the existing policy, which is at best ambiguous.
It states that librarians will not monitor content. It also gives the librarian complete discretion as to what to do if a patron complains that another patron, even a child, is viewing pornography. She may conceivably treat the porn-viewing as illegal behavior, which it is, and tell the offending patron to stop. Or she may tell the complaining patron to please respect the privacy of the porn-surfer.
The last time that a friend of mine, Carol Lillig, saw a child in the Gilroy library accessing pornography, she told the librarian. The librarian responded, “I am sorry; there is nothing we can do.”
That may be Mr. Meiers’s idea of a “commendable” policy using “behavior management.” It is not mine.
For the record, I do not believe that my columns killed Measure B. I think the economy killed Measure B. Tax payers are coming out of a long scary recession. Some of us have had our wages cut. Some of us have been out of work temporarily. We were in no mood to pass another straight-up parcel tax.
I note, based on the precinct-by-precinct analysis, that the impoverished east side of Gilroy voted for Measure B with 66 and 78 percent support. The northwest quad, which pays huge property taxes, squelched Measure B with percents ranging from 49 to 61.
However, the loss does give me hope. I hope, first, that the library decides to rethink their commitment to “open access to all library materials for all patrons, regardless of age,” especially in view of the Supreme Court’s decision of June 23, 2003, the aptly named United States et al versus the American Library Association, which lays to rest the Constitutionality question.
I hope that the library decides it would rather have the support of the whole community, even if it means they have to put all terminals in open view and adopt an Acceptable Usage Policy that clearly states that tax-financed library Internet terminals are not to be used for viewing pornography.
If not, I now have until February, maybe even August of 2005 before I have to re-contact all those lovely activists I have not seen since 1998 in Saratoga, Woodland, Cupertino, Los Altos, Campbell, Milpitas, Alum Rock, and Woodland.
We can drink iced tea, and catch up on old times, and I can try to persuade them to write letters to the editor and speak to their social groups. Power to the people, right on.
