Less porno for pervos at the BPL, thanks to an incident in West Roxbury
By adamg - Sat, 03/08/2008 - 10:45pm.
The Boston Public Library has tightened up Internet access policies at branches after two teens reported seeing a guy fondle himself while looking at a porn site on a public-access terminal at the BPL's West Roxbury branch, the West Roxbury Bulletin reports.
As of last week, access to porn sites is supposedly blocked at all but one public-access terminal in each branch. The one unfiltered terminal will be equipped with a "privacy screen" that is supposed to prevent everybody but the user from seeing what he or she is looking at.
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Have you no decency?
The sign-up form should include an agreement:
I hereby agree to not fondle myself or anyone else while using internet access: I understand my BPL Internet Access Privilege will be suspended for one year if I violate this agreement, and if I violate this agreement a second time, BPL will refer a complaint to the Boston Police Department. ...scratching your crotch will be considered a violation.
Fondling
Well that's a relief. I mean, it's hard enough to fondle one's self in public as it is, but this privacy screen will add some much needed discretion to the whole ordeal. The reasons for my special attention to my gentleman's area will finally be relegated to pure assumption instead of concrete fact. All the better when I end up in court for indecent exposure!
Hmm...
Could someone remind me why, exactly, people SHOULD be allowed to surf porn sites at a public library?
Because they have the First
Because they have the First Amendment right to do so. I don't think kids should see it, but the "privacy screen" will apparently fix that problem.
No they do not have the
No they do not have the right to do so. No constitutional rights are unlimited or unconstrained. A constitutional right is not analogous to a spoilt child's "But I wanna!" Rights come with responsibilities. You can read or look at anything you want in the privacy of your own home. When you step into the public space, paid for with public money, the public has legitimate concerns about what is available to you in their presence.
Define "Porn"
Unfortunately, some people - like the braintrust at AOL - think anything with the word "breast" in it = porn. Then they deleted all the archives of Breast Cancer support and discussion forums. They also killed some support groups for gay teens and their families, etc. Really high specificity there!
This is why adults might want to look at things the porn-filter would quelch - not because they are looking at porn per se, but because they want to know something about their sexuality or sexual plumbing, what they can do about peeing when they sneeze, should they be concerned about lumps in their boobs, pregnancy information that would be embarassing to ask about otherwise, STD information, "signs of drug abuse" for self and family, etc. There is a lot of information out there that gets killed by porn filters that has nothing to do with, well, porn.
Zak attack yet again?
Zak attack yet again?
Wrong Library
Dude musta thought he was at the Tufts Library.
i heard
the guy couldnt find a copy of the phoenix anywhere so he headed over to the library.