All Computers Filtered Except One

The St. Petersburg Times has this article on a decision in a library to filter all computers but one. There might as well be a sign over the one unfiltered terminal that reads View Porn Here!!.

\”It\’s censorship — it\’s bald-faced censorship — and that is what the First Amendment is supposed to protect us from,\” said Joe Redner, a nude-nightclub owner and county commission candidate.\”

The St. Petersburg Times has this article on a decision in a library to filter all computers but one. There might as well be a sign over the one unfiltered terminal that reads View Porn Here!!.

\”It\’s censorship — it\’s bald-faced censorship — and that is what the First Amendment is supposed to protect us from,\” said Joe Redner, a nude-nightclub owner and county commission candidate.\”

\”But commissioners said the policy will protect children from pornography and will prevent the public from using tax funds to pay for access to obscenity.\”

\”I don\’t want anyone\’s daughter or child to be exposed to this,\” Commissioner Tom Scott said.\”

\”He told his colleagues that someone had recently stolen his 13-year-old daughter\’s AOL computer password and used it to send obscene pictures on the Internet. \”Believe me people, it\’s real — it\’s painful,\” Scott said.\”

\”The county currently filters all but four library computers, all of them at the downtown library. With the decision Wednesday, a California-based company called WebSense will be asked to filter three of those four computers next month.\”

\”WebSense only blocks Web sites that show actual images of sex, but does not censor nudity, library director Joe Stines said.\”

\”I am not talking about bare-breasted women. I am not talking about boobies — for lack of a better word,\” Commissioner Ronda Storms said. \”I\’m talking about the worst of the worst.\”

\”Storms wanted to filter all the county\’s computers and allow residents to ask for access to blocked Web sites on a case-by-case basis. County library staff would review each request and, if necessary, bring the issue before the library board, whose members are appointed by the commission.\”