History files and the filtering debate

[Cindy Lampner]

Have public libraries offering full internet access done any kind
of examination of their Netscape history files to see if, in fact, there
is any substantial use of pornography sites? All of the debate I've
seen here (and I have not read it all) has centered around what sites
are out there, not what users are accessing. Are filtering advocates
trying to prevent people from seeing what they're actually now
seeing, or are they trying to prevent the possibility of them seeing
it? I know this will not matter to folks who are strongly at one or
another side of the issue, but I for one might be swayed by evidence
that teenagers mostly use library web access for pornography -- or
by evidence that this is rare.

Cindy Lampner
lampner at library.vanderbilt.edu
(speaking only for myself, not my employer)