He’s Watching That, in Public? Pornography Takes Next Seat, by Matt Richtel. (The New York Times, 7/21/2012)
The article opens at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library, where dozens of people are using public access Internet computers, some of them looking at naked pictures of men and women in full view of passers-by.
(Not to be persnickety about this kind of thing, but isn't it pictures of naked men and women that they're looking at?)
The library's solution? (Something similar to what the Waterloo (IA) Public Library tested out in 2008.) Gives new meaning to the term "under the hood".
And if you're interested, the New York Times has been down this road before: Planes, Trains, and Personal Porn. (11/16/2009)
On other public viewing fronts.....
Automobiles
Drivers see porn films in other cars. (The Day, 3/11/2004)
Playing at an SUV near you: Porn. (CBS News, 2/11/2009)
Three states -- Tennessee, Louisiana, and Virginia -- have passed laws criminalizing the viewing of obscene materials in automobiles, which includes so-called party buses, it appears. A similar law in New Jersey is pending, and one in Pennsylvania failed to pass, although the article isn't clear as to whether the bill even came up for a vote. (Not to worry, Jeff, this California bachelor party can proceed as planned.)
Airplanes
Morality in Media's Porn Free Planes Project.
“My Seat Mate Was Watching Porn on the Plane”. Steven Petrow.
Restaurants, including coffee shops and Internet cafes.
Bruce Ponte, owner of the Ponte Cafe in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood, has developed what Richtel describes as a sliding scale for what is acceptable. Actually, Ponte seems to be more concerned about the annoyance caused by people talking too loud on their cellphones. "Take it outside" is the gist of what he tells these offenders.
Watching porn at McDonald's: A not uncommon occurrence, apparently.
Pennsylvania man was watching porn at McDonald's, police say. (Patriot-News, 1/31/2011) The unidentified man is no longer welcome at the restaurant.
Man, 53, Arrested For Watching "Cartoon Pornography" Inside A McDonald's PlayPlace. (The Smoking Gun, 9/19/2011)
Man seen watching porn in McDonalds. Watford Observer, 1/11/2012) “We operate a zero tolerance approach to anyone found viewing illicit content in our restaurants and when alerted, the customer was immediately asked to leave by our restaurant management.”
Police: Man sat at McDonald's viewing porn. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/8/2012)
A man [convicted sex offender] who police said was seen viewing apparent pornography on his laptop computer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Roswell was in custody Tuesday night, charged with obstruction after he allegedly tried to run away from officers.
Asked to leave, 2. Called the police, 2.
NOT suitable for public viewing.
Like many public libraries, Starbucks employs a "tap-on-the-shoulder" approach and does not censor what people use its Wi-Fi for but reserves the right to ask someone not to view material that might offend patrons or employees.
In the library world, we've been talking about this topic for what seems like a long time. But we never got bogged down in any "to-be-or-not-to-be" debate. At least I don't remember this type of discussion taking place at Middleton staff meetings or at various South Central Library System and Dane County Library Service member library meetings back then. Though certainly not without moments of trepidation, we generally took a positive, planning-oriented approach, determined to demonstrate, perhaps, that the Internet is a way to enhance the services libraries provide. (Still a foreign concept to some folks, apparently.)
The above quote is from the Augusta Chronicle, Public Libraries Debating How to Handle Access to Net Pornography.
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