Unfair!

[R. Richard]

These people are trying to cut down on our readership. Comment?

Mass. official aims to shame library porn viewers

QUINCY, Mass. – A city councilor in Massachusetts thinks he's come up with a way to stop people looking at pornography on public library computers — name them and shame them.

Quincy Councilor Daniel Raymondi has asked Mayor Thomas Koch to make public a list of people who have viewed pornography on library computers within the past year. The council unanimously approved a resolution on the idea last week.

Library director Ann McLaughlin tells The Patriot Ledger that using library computers to access porn is against policy, and violators are given two warnings before they are banned. She says she's not sure publicly naming violators would work.

A spokesman for the mayor says the city's legal department is reviewing Raymondi's request.

 

[TxRad]

But then again, some folks might want to be on that list. Talk about shock value.

 

[bronzeage]

The usual end of the political career of people like Councilor Daniel Raymondi comes when they are arrested in the men's room of a public park, after offering to such the cock of an undercover policeman.

 

[mynameisben]

My local public library imposes a 20-minute limit per computer session. Then there's always a waiting list, ten deep, of twitching teenagers huddled behind your back who forgot to charge their iPhones and have to get out an email or a tweet before their pimply little heads explode. It really takes a lot of the fun out of web cam sex, but what are ya gonna do?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The usual end of the political career of people like Councilor Daniel Raymondi comes when they are arrested in the men's room of a public park, after offering to such the cock of an undercover policeman.

Your typical Usual Suspect!

 

[bronzeage]

Your typical Usual Suspect!

Or a Republican Senator.

 

[Guest]

. . . .

 

[R. Richard]

Naughty sites are forbidden on our public library's computers.

There is a time limit to utilize the computers, people must use their library cards number to log in, and if people abuse the system they will be banned.

I'm okay with that. Public library computers? I don't want my taxes to pay for someone's porn addiction.

I'm too busy paying for my own.

(I do think the idea of "public shaming" to be a bit ridiculous. Grow up, people.)

Who decides what a 'naughty site' is? Exactly what are the criteria used? (If I'm a radical muslim or one of the Amish, a typical ladies fashion site might be termed naughty.)

My public library also has a time limit and library card/guest card sign in. The only 'abuse' that has resulted in banning is cell phone usage. I don't agree with banning for cell phone usage. The death penalty, yes; banning, no.

The rationale behind guest cards is that numerous people don't have either a library card or a job. I have no problem whatsoever with someone using the library computers to look for a job. The same person using the library computers to play, 'World of War Hampster' is a different matter.

Yes, 'public shaming' is a bit ridiculous. Bring back the stocks!

 

[mynameisben]

I agree.

I think it's ridiculous and hypocritical that elected public officials are wasting time and taxpayer dollars on schemes aimed at publicly shaming their citizenry. How misguided is that? Granted, puritan roots run deep in Massachusetts, but we are living in the 21st century now. People know what sex is, and they know that they like it. What a shocker, huh? Shaming people for being people makes so much sense.

Censorship and libraries have always been odd bedfellows, so I can see the dilemma the puritans in charge are facing. But who says libraries have an obligation to provide computers with full internet connectivity anyway? The "libr" in library means book, not computer. If library computers were limited in function to providing information on books, book reviews, and locating or reading books in a statewide networked library system so constrained, then fantasy gamer freaks, Twitter bugs and porn junkies would vanish from public libraries overnight. Would that be so terrible? The jobless poor could still use library computers to search the job market without access to cumonmyjugs.com.

The last thing I am is an advocate for censorship. But I do believe it's naive to offer free internet access to the pubic and expect them to put those resources to use exclusively on scholarly endeavors.

So sever the cord that ties the Internet to public libraries. It's cheaper, more effective, and less moronic than legally imposing another Massachusetts witch hunt. And it's not censorship, either. The Internet will still be chugging along fine for those who will access it from more suitable environs.

 

[kromen]

We had to put filters on our public computers after there were reports of men with jackets flung over the monitors and heads, groaning to themselves. Now, we have an hour limit, rows of homeless playing solitaire, or kids playing online games. The facebook and myspace teens are gone because those sites have been filtered out as well after reports of gangs recruiting members online began to surface. I was never so happy as when I got my laptop.

 

[Boxlicker101]

These people are trying to cut down on our readership. Comment?

Mass. official aims to shame library porn viewers

QUINCY, Mass. – A city councilor in Massachusetts thinks he's come up with a way to stop people looking at pornography on public library computers — name them and shame them.

Quincy Councilor Daniel Raymondi has asked Mayor Thomas Koch to make public a list of people who have viewed pornography on library computers within the past year. The council unanimously approved a resolution on the idea last week.

Library director Ann McLaughlin tells The Patriot Ledger that using library computers to access porn is against policy, and violators are given two warnings before they are banned. She says she's not sure publicly naming violators would work.

A spokesman for the mayor says the city's legal department is reviewing Raymondi's request.

I would think such a list would be a clear violation of the right to privacy. MA has a statute making that a right, and publicizing what a person reads or does on a computer in a library would surely be covered by it.

 

[bronzeage]

I would think such a list would be a clear violation of the right to privacy. MA has a statute making that a right, and publicizing what a person reads or does on a computer in a library would surely be covered by it.

When the government provides a service, the government can regulate and supervise the use of it.

People might demand that City Councilmen publish the browser history of their city provided computers. It is public property and private use would be a violation of some law or another. No more Facebook, ebay, or Amazon.

Of course, the obvious problem of publishing people's names is what to do if it has no effect on behavior.

 

[R. Richard]

I frequently use both the books and the Internet at my local public library. If I want to research a topic, I usually begin by building a base of information from books, usually encyclopedias. When I have enough key words and/or reference names, I then use the Internet to allow me seachable references. Sometime the Internet leads me back to a book(s). Neither books, nor the Internet is a complete source. However, both together let me learn a lot in a short time.

I have to sign up for a block of time and I can only get two blocks per day. I see others reading e-mail, sending email, reading the news, looking for a job, etc. That's fine. I don't like people looking at porn or playing games on the library computers, as I feel that the library computers are research or communicaitons tools. However, I don't feel that people should be barred from the library computers for viewing porn.

Using a cell phone while on the library computers should, IMNTHO, be a death penalty offense. It's hard to concentrate while some idiot is loudly conducting personal business while sitting at the next computer.