Censorship absolutism: A contrarian position

[Burt, David]

Paul Neff wrote:

>It's also like searching the knapsacks of library patrons as they come
>through the door, since it prevents patrons from choosing to access a
>resource that may be objectionable.

I hardly consider not offering access to Internet sites the invasion of
privacy that conducting a physical search of a person is.

>To make yet another analogy: while most public libraries wouldn't circulate
Hustler >magazine, few would prevent a patron from carrying in his or
her own copy and >reading it quietly in a corner. The point is that the
questions of what it is appropriate >for the library to collect and
what is appropriate for patrons to read in the library are >two
different things.

True, but then again, the library didn't pay for the copy of Hustler,
like it did for the Internet, so a different standard applies, because
you're talking about the use of public monies.

          ***********************************************************
          David Burt, Information Technology Librarian 
          The Lake Oswego Public Library 
          706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
          URL:          http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/library/library.htm
          Phone:     (503) 635-0392 
          Fax:           (503) 635-4171 
          E-mail:      dburt at ci.oswego.or.us