FC: Family Research Council hails EEOC ruling on library filtering

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

News coverage:
http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?story=84238770&template=metro_a_cache
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166171.html

-Declan

************

From: Family Research Council <frcpub () frc org>
Subject: Press Release - EEOC Says Cyberporn Harmful to Librarians
To: declan () wired com
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 13:23:34 -0400

Here is our latest press release. To see the on-line
version, please visit:

http://www.frc.org/press/index.cfm?get=recent&id=P01E14

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 25, 2001
CONTACT: Kristin Hansen, (202) 393-2100
FOR RADIO: Kelly Green

EEOC FINDS MINNEAPOLIS LIBRARY A SEXUALLY
HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT DUE TO INTERNET
PORNOGRAPHY, FRC NOT SURPRISED

"This deals a major blow to the American Library Association
and its irresponsible anti-filtering policy," said Jan
LaRue, FRC's senior director of Legal Studies

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Thursday, the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a finding of
probable cause that 12 Minneapolis public librarians were
subjected to a sexually hostile work environment in
violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when
they were exposed to pornography on the Internet.

"We knew it was just a matter of time before some dedicated
librarians would stand up to the American Library
Association and rescue their library.  Our hats are off to
the 'Minneapolis 12,'" said Jan LaRue, senior director of
Legal Studies at the Family Research Council.  "The EEOC's
decision is both legally correct and amply justified."

Minneapolis librarians have complained of hard-core
pornographic Web sites left visible on Internet terminals,
graphic printouts left on tables and youngsters exposed to
images of bestiality and child rape.  Patrons have also
complained that anyone walking through the library could see
pornography on computers.

Very few libraries have utilized blocking technology on
computers due to the policies and pressure of the American
Library Association (ALA), which promotes unrestricted
access by anyone, regardless of age, to all of the materials
available on the Internet regardless of content, including
the most deviant pornography.

"A public library is supposed to be a place dedicated to
quiet, to knowledge, and to beauty, not a dirty peep show
open to kids and funded by taxpayers.  The ALA resists doing
what's constitutional and common sense: don't bring into the
library through cyberspace what would never be stocked on
the bookshelves.  ALA bureaucrats don't work in libraries -
they don't have to clean up after the porn or be threatened
with a knife by a porn-surfing addict who's been told his
time on the computer is up," LaRue said.

LaRue called on library boards across the country to utilize
blocking technology to keep illegal pornography from turning
their library into a sexually hostile work environment like
Minneapolis.  "If anyone thinks Minneapolis is an isolated
incident, they need to read FRC's publication, 'Dangerous
Access 2000 Edition: Uncovering Internet Pornography in
America's Libraries,' which is available online at
www.frc.org," said LaRue.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact.
To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------