If you look at Internet pornography at the public library, you just might be a redneck terrorist.
So, apparently, thought two officers of the security division of the Montgomery County, Md., Homeland Security Department, which provides unarmed security guards to county buildings.
On Feb. 9, the two officers walked into the Little Falls Library in Bethesda, Md., and announced to everyone browsing the Internet that the viewing of pornography was forbidden. They then asked a library patron to step outside.
But they were the ones who wound up stepping outside.
A librarian intercepted the security officers, the police were called, and the security officers were removed from the building.
Later that afternoon, Montgomery County’s chief administrative officer, Bruce Romer, issued a statement calling the incident “unfortunate” and “regrettable” — two words that bureaucrats often deploy when things have gone awry. He said the officers had been reassigned to other duties.
Romer said the officers believed they were enforcing the county’s sexual harassment policy but “overstepped their authority” and had to be reminded that Montgomery “supports the rights of patrons to view the materials of their choice.”
Montgomery plans to train its homeland security officers “so they fully understand library policy and its consistency with residents’ First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution,” Romer said in his statement. — Washington Post
If you’ve been around the block more than once, you already know that people who think they are in authority frequently try to do things which are not at all within the law. As illustrated here, it goes far beyond officers who write you a ticket for 44 in a 25, when you were actually doing 25.
Unfortunately, unlike this all-too-rare situation here, police abusing their authority get away with it more often than not.
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Plan2Succeed Citizen's Group
Feb 18, 2006
I think the officers are HEROES! Sure they may have used the wrong approach but they have the right idea. And a library is not an open public forum and people are not entitled to view porn in public libraries. So says the United States Supreme Court in the 2003 case the American Library Association lost on this very issue, US v. ALA. Too bad the officers now have to undergo re-education camp, according to the article, until they fully understand ALA propaganda, as least as I read the story. For more commentary on this specific issue and on related issues, see http://www.safelibraries.org/whomtobelieve.htm by SafeLibraries.org
SafeLibraries.org
Michael Hampton
Feb 19, 2006
I reviewed the Supreme Court decision that you cited, and it doesn’t even appear to be related to this issue. This case involves an adult using the Internet, not a minor, and doesn’t involve anything prohibited under CIPA. It’s still perfectly legal for the adult to look at anything legal behind the privacy screen that the library in question helpfully provides — and indeed, will require you to use.
Feel free to believe the propaganda you’ve linked to, but don’t be surprised if people don’t buy it. Much of it is demonstrably false.
Finally, you have obviously stumbled on the wrong Web site, as here we believe in the American ideals of freedom with the responsibility which attends it. You cannot delegate the responsibility of raising your child to an Internet filter, no matter how effective it might be, nor to another computer program. Nor can you tell adults they don’t have the right to receive the speech they want to receive.
Michael Hampton
Feb 19, 2006
I completely forgot to address the issue of the officers’ “re-education.” The “propaganda” they have to be “re-educated” on is, simply, this:
Jason
Feb 19, 2006
And I think the librarian is the hero for getting ‘officials’ out of there when they’re rummaging their noses into non-dangerous, non-offending business.
Kevin Fields
Feb 26, 2006
As well-intentioned as the security guards may have been, there is a fatal flaw to their line of thinking:
Sexual harassment is a civil issue, not a criminal issue.
While the county may have a law against sexual harassment, it is not an area where a police officer could step in and write a citation or even make an arrest, unless there was an act of intimidation or physical assault that accompanied it. The simple display of sexually suggestive images doesn’t come anywhere near meeting this, other than offending somebody’s sense of taste.
Plan2Succeed Citizen's Group
Mar 02, 2006
Michael Hampton, thank you for commenting and for having this site that allows people to converse. Having read your comments, I should only respond that you need to reread the article and reread US v.ALA but first clear your mind of preconceived notions. Your posts are cute but entirely nonresponsive or based on fallacious logic. Apparently, you too have joined the crowd of librarians, educators, and criminals that believe the US Supreme Court is irrelevant. I’m sorry for you.
Michael Hampton
Mar 02, 2006
I find the Supreme Court quite relevant; it’s simply that the case you cite has nothing to do with this incident. The Court will be happy to tell you that, too, should you care to waste your money filing suit. If there had been any children involved, then you might have been correct on this point.
As far as fallacious logic goes, you’re going to have to do better than simply saying I’m using it, especially since there’s no trace of it at all in my recent comments. However, the web site you linked to is chock full of fallacy.
For the librarians, I actually checked, and while the ALA doesn’t particularly like it, they are urging libraries to comply with the CIPA, and even giving directions on how to do so. The rest of your comment is a troll.
This site remains as much an open forum as I can possibly make it, because I believe everyone should be able to speak their mind and hopefully learn from each other. That process goes both ways, though. Learn to open your mind, whoever you are.