Boston situation -Reply

[Laura Quilter]

On Wed, 26 Feb 1997 stone at imcpl.lib.in.us wrote:

> This not an all inclusive definition of porn but how about people having sex
> with animals. Anyone disagree?

what, exactly: drawings? photographs? videos? sound clips? literary
descriptions?

> Frankly, the definition does not matter. In most communities, if we do not
> not make a reasonable attempt to protect our children ( i.e. BPL), someone
> else will be making the decision for us. In extreme cases, Internet access
> may be prohibited. 

There are lots of arguments for pre-emptive self-censorship, but all the
arguments against CENSORSHIP would also apply to pre-emptive
self-censorship, and more besides.

> 
> This is a big problem for public libraries. Probably not so much a problem
> for academic libraries. 
> 
> Brian
> 
> At 05:42 AM 2/26/97 -0800, you wrote:
> >> From: Brian Stone <stone at imcpl.lib.in.us>
> >> To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
> >> Subject: Re: Boston situation -Reply
> >> Date: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 2:04 AM
> >> 
> >> I dont want my kids to be exposed to pornography in the library. I
> >dont want
> >> local pol's and the christian right telling us we can't offer
> >internet
> >> access. Two good reasons to bock porn. I dont think we have to stop
> >it all.
> >> We do have to make a reasonable attempt. 
> >
> >Sounds good, Brian.  Let us know when you have a definition of
> >pornography that everyone involved will agree on, and when you have a
> >mechanism that will block access to sites with pornography with
> >sufficient reliability to satisfy everyone involved.  
> >
> >Thomas "...But I Know It When I See It" Dowling
> >tdowling at ohiolink.edu
> >
> 
> Brian Stone
> 

Laura M. Quilter   /   lauramd at uic.edu
Electronic Services Librarian
University of Illinois at Chicago
http://www.uic.edu/~lauramd/

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be 
in your revolution."  -- Emma Goldman