Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Headline Grabber: 'Quincy official says: Expose library porn watchers'

Or make them wear a scarlet letter.


Link to June 29 Quincy (Mass) Patriot-Ledger article.

Excerpt: Raymondi said part of his motivation is to determine if any library policy violators are sex offenders.

“I think the public has a right to know that these things are happening, who they are,” he said. “Parents can react accordingly, and members of the public.”

Ann McLaughlin, Quincy’s library director, said library patrons are banned from using computers if they violate the use policy on three occasions.

The “appropriate-use policy” for computers, which bans viewing of pornographic material, is posted on all computers in the library.

Patrons need a library card and need to acknowledge they’ve read the policy by clicking a box before they are allowed to use the computers.

Because there is a three-strikes rule, the library does keep track of who is caught viewing pornography, McLaughlin said. But she’s not sure if such information should be made public.

“I would say that it’s not the kind of information we would be likely to give out,” she said. “Library records have a different protection under the law. Access to what people check out from the library is excluded under
the law, so if the police come (looking for that information), they need to bring a subpoena.

Originally spotted this item under today's online selection of "Weird News" stories at the San Jose Mercury News website.

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