A New Zealand Member of Parliament charged November 22 that “dysfunctional voyeurs” were abusing the free Internet service at the National Library in Wellington. Winston Peters, member from Tauranga and leader of the New Zealand First Party, said the library’s policy was an invitation for unrestricted porn surfing and a free Internet café for foreigners to check e-mail at taxpayer expense, the online Newsbytes.com reported.
The National Library, which introduced the service earlier in the year, was quick to respond to Peters’s charge. “The library provides free Internet access in the reference area for the purposes of reference and research only,” said Director of Collection Services Allison Elliott. “The Internet access is supervised by reference staff.” She added that abuse was minimal, with users first warned then ejected if they continued to visit inappropriate sites.
However, Peters urged the library to increase its security. “If Wellington’s user-pays cyber-cafes are finding business a bit slow at present, then I can tell them why. The National Library should clean up its act and ensure the services they provide are not able to continue to be abused in this manner,” he said.
Posted November 27, 2000.