California Library Board Agrees
to Filter Kids' Machines
Alameda County (Calif.) Public Library board chair Karen Dyer is characterizing trustees' decision to install blocking software on children's-area workstations systemwide as “an attempt to make parents more comfortable with the children's machines in the children's sections.” She emphasized to the Contra Costa Times February 11 that “there will be no monitoring of who is where by library staff.”
Describing the decision as a “win-win situation” since minors will be free to surf any machine if their parents permit it, County Librarian Linda Wood commented, “We're doing this without infringing on anyone's constitutional rights or freedom to read.”
Although ACPL has had only one complaint about its prior unfiltered Internet service, officials anticipated that the imminent addition of 33 computers to the 13 already available would increase the likelihood of patrons being offended by what sites are being displayed by others.
Posted February 15, 1999.
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