What is your Opinion of Pornography in Public Libraries?

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfRNaitRsHA&feature=g-all-u&context=G2f3a659FAAAAAAAACAA[/youtube]

Porn has it's place but that place is obviously NOT a public library.

The ACLU are not asking for glossy fetish magazines on library shelves, they demand unrestricted internet access in public libraries. It's about censorship, not pornography.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/292757/ ... atchee.htm

If the ACLU is asking for it then that speaks volumes.

A public library can have whatever policy they want with in their building.

I agree. It's no ones place except the libraries director to decide what they allow.

Yes, it speaks volumes about their stance on censorship of information. Who gets do decide what is useful research material for a psychology student who writes a paper on BDSM? Who gets to draw the line between art and porn in a country where some people consider a replica of Michelangelo's David pornographic?

No. It's a public library. Not privately owned.

With that said, I do not believe there should be completely unrestricted access to the internet in a library. If someone wants to view pornography, they can go home and do it on their computer.

Public libraries still have a director (usually). They are in charge of said library, they decide what is allowed in the library. Public or private, it isn't anyone else's place to tell them what is allowed in the library they are in charge of.

Pornography belongs at home. It is incredibly unlikely one will need to visit explicit sites to do any form of research of... academic nature. Most people have computers of their own. Additionally it exposes the computers to plenty of viruses and malware and there will possibly be large bandwidth fees. Both lead to costs that could be better spent on... books

Yes, and if publicly funded the taxpayer should have some input in it.
The ACLU has no place in it.

Aw. I want glossy fetish magazines.

I don't really feel that strongly about it either way.

Although if patrons were allowed unrestricted internet access, I would at least hope that they had good AV/Firewall and anti-spyware software installed on their computers to protect the people using them.

Hi pandabear,

Have you looked in the religious section, under Doctor Dobson with his Meese Papers? There's always Ken Starr with his burning piles along side Keating, or Ken's famous unique Talleywacker federal investigation (Comes from the 1800s when cattlemen had to count the heard in a cattle drive) folders & reports.

I thought something really controversial was involved, like "Tom Sawyer" or "Ulysses" or even "Lolita", but nope, just things like "Women & Guns" & "firearms use by hunters" & "tobacco usage" (not even the Little Miss pornographic Art & Beauty Pageant winners like Anita Bryant's OMG!! !):
"Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are:
• Sarah Bradburn, a resident of Republic in Ferry County, who was prevented from using NCRL computers to research an academic assignment about youth tobacco usage while studying at Eastern Washington University to become a drug and alcohol counselor. Because she had no Internet access at home, she had to travel to Spokane to use its library’s computers for the information she sought.
• Pearl Cherrington, a resident of Twisp in Okanogan County, a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and outdoor scenes who was prevented from using NCRL computers to conduct research on art galleries and health issues. NCRL filters also blocked her from access to YouTube.
• Charles Heinlen, a resident of Okanogan in Okanogan County, who was prevented from using NCRL computers to access the blog he maintains on MySpace, as well information relating to fine arts, firearms use by hunters, and other lawful information.
• The Second Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit organization with more than 600,000 members nationwide and headquarters in Bellevue. The Foundation undertakes education, research, publishing, and legal action focusing on the constitutional right to own and possess firearms. The NCRL has blocked access to the Foundation-sponsored magazine Women & Guns."
From: http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/lawsuit ... ry-patrons

Whatever, just don't look at the pdf file in the search of, is the real reason???, or not???:
***?http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22awarded+the+FRCS+Urol+Gold+medal+in+2006%22?***
even though it is through the government.

Many members here on WP would be filtered out with maybe the NRA!! !

Tadzio

Why not? And some of the witiest literature is porn for example Bocaccio. Or Ben Franklin's essay -In Praise of Older Women-. He was writing about cougars.. What about -Lady Chaterly's Lover-?

Perhaps the library can restrict the access of young children, but libraries should not be in the censorship business.

ruveyn

It seems a difficult question to answer because there is a free speech issue. For myself, it seems that the library ought to be able to restrict access, they have very limited resources and providing bandwidth for porn hardly seems an efficient use of them.