Cyberporn etc.

[Jay Smith]

A lot of thoughtful messages on Boston, Staten Island, cyberporn,
Hillary Clinton, etc. have appeared on this list.  Because of the gee-
whiz nature of the Internet it gets lots of attention, especially the
juicier topics.  But the same "logic" of protection of children, or of
freedom to see what we want, could be applied to all the media librarians
select for their libraries.

If we had the staff we OF COURSE could check Web sites.  We could install
porn-blocking software.  We could warn parents that their children might
connect to pornographic Web sites.  So much to do, so little time and
staff.

Why not check the telephone books for ads of dubious merit?  Given enough
time and staff we could remove such ads from the yellow pages, or keep
the phone books in a special, monitored place.  Then there are the magazine
ads (and articles) that are apt to corrupt our young.  Why, even in a
maintstream magazine such as Popular Science, there must be a few grainy
little ads in the back pages that might suggest the unthinkable to some.
  
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   Jay Smith                                     voice (415) 591-1110
   Reference Librarian                           fax (415) 591-1585
   San Mateo Co. Library                         smithj at pls.lib.ca.us
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