"The right and the duty"?

James Q. on the LU list sent this around.

Christian group pushing to filter porn from San Jose libraries
By Stephen Baxter
Article Launched: 10/19/2007 09:21:36 AM PDT
San Jose Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7225171?nclick_check=1

A Christian group led in part by a former San Jose city councilman is pushing for anti-pornography filters on computers at the city's public libraries.

Computers with Internet access at the city's 18 public libraries are divided into areas for adults, teens and children, but there are no Internet filters installed. Library officials say they do not want to block information, and the policy is in line with a 1997 city council decision. The city council can change library policies, but the matter has not yet been placed on its agenda.

Larry Pegram, president and co-founder of the San Jose-based Values Advocacy Council, said the libraries' lack of filters recently came to the attention of the group.

"The city council has the right and the duty to control content on the computers in the public libraries," Pegram said. ...

Um, well, I hope he gets that the "content" isn't actually ON the computers, it's on the Internet and is being viewed via the computers.

Maybe they can tell him they're "filtering the hard drives" and he'll go away. sigh. I get that people are upset, but they need to understand the complexities of what they're trying to censor. And they need to understand that it is censorship, even if they want to call it "values". Call a spade a spade if you're going to use it to bury our freedoms.

I'm also a bit amused that this "recently came to the attention of the group". Where have you been living, a hole? Clearly the library (bless 'em) and the city council were giving consideration to this issue as far back as 1997.