NY Libraries Protect Online Porn Rights

You are free to surf porn in any New York City library you happen to be in.

Indeed, there are more than 200 libraries in the Big Apple—libraries that tap into federal funding—that are more than happy to let you use their computers and Internet connection to view naughty images online. Doesn’t seem to matter if there are kids within eyeshot.

“Customers can watch whatever they want on the computer,” said Brooklyn Public Library spokeswoman Malika Granville, told the New York Post.

After all, watching smut is part of your First Amendment rights. Or is it? Morality in Media insists that the First Amendment does not protect pornography viewing in public libraries according to the US Supreme Court.

“The New York City Public Library System is more than 10 years out of date and wrong on its porn-on-every-library-computer policy,” says Patrick Trueman, president and CEO of New York-based Morality in Media.

Indeed, 2000, the U.S. Congress passed the Children’s Internet Protection Act, clarifying that public libraries are free, and encouraged, to ban porn from computers. In fact, libraries that accept federal funding are required to have blocking or filtering measures in place. Specifically, on computers that are accessed by minors, the protection measures must block or filter Internet access to materials that are: obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors.

“What is the message that the American Library Association and the New York Library System are trying to convey to patrons, particularly to children?” asks Trueman. “Porn is demeaning, depicts violence, particularly rape, and portrays girls and women as mere sexual objects with no self worth. Parents should storm library board meetings demanding protection from the scourge of pornography and until a policy change comes, keep their kids away.”