ACLU knocks Brooks on library porn stance

(February 22, 2007) Democrat & Chronicle

The American Civil Liberties Union knocked Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks today over her call to tighten restrictions on Internet use at the Central Library of Rochester, saying Brooks’ actions may infringe on people’s First Amendment rights.

New York Vs Ferber, 458 U.S. 747
The ACLU’s position is this: criminalize the production but legalize the sale and distribution of child pornography. This is the kind of lawyerly distinction that no one on the Supreme Court found convincing. And with good reason: as long as a free market in child pornography exists, there will always be some producers willing to risk prosecution. Beyond this, there is also the matter of how the sale of child pornography relates either to free speech or the ends of good government. But most important, the central issue is whether a free society should legalize transactions that involve the wholesale sexploitation of children for profit.” Quotes from Twilight Of Liberty

Brooks on Wednesday threatened to yank about $7.5 million in aid to the downtown library after it was revealed that the library’s policy lets adult patrons view blocked Web sites that could be inappropriate or pornographic.

Scott Forsyth, local counsel for ACLU, said today that Brooks shouldn’t try to arbitrate what information the public at the library should be able to see.

Riiight! We should leave decisions like that up to people like the past president of Virginia’s American Civil Liberties Union

“It’s all about access to materials in a broad sense at the library,” Forsyth said. “What real significant difference is there between denying an adult patron access to these sites and denying patrons access to Catcher in the Rye?”

Forsyth also criticized the library for “knuckling under” to Brooks because the library Wednesday put a temporary moratorium on unblocking Web sites that may contain graphic information.

Forsyth said the ACLU may consider suing the library if it doesn’t allow adults to get Web sites unblocked.

The library, trying to follow federal law, has policies that block access to Web sites that are deemed inappropriate. Yet the block can be removed by librarians at the request of adults — a procedure deemed appropriate by the Supreme Court in 2003.

Brooks, after a television report showed people viewing porn at the library, said the policy is unacceptable and threatened to cut funding.

The library board of trustees held an impromptu meeting Wednesday night to discuss how to handle the situation. No decision was made because there was not enough members for a quorum, said George Wolf, who heads the board for the Monroe County Library System.

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