GiGaOm
Rani Molla | November 13, 2012

Google released data today that shows requests for censorship and surveillance are on the rise worldwide. Google keeps track of government requests to remove its content (requests it sometimes abides) and releases data biannually. We mapped those numbers, which include July 2010 through June of this year, to show the main products each government is targeting and the reasons they gave for doing so.

What it shows is that censorship varies greatly across the world — some of which stretches the definition of what people usually define as censorship.

Read on…

VICTORIA ADVOCATE
Melissa Crowe | October 27, 2012

Kristi Hall glanced up from helping her daughter research a school project at the Victoria Public Library and saw skin – lots of skin.

She jumped up, told her 11-year-old they had to change computers and then reported the man and his activity to the library staff.

“I was just in disbelief,” said Hall, 30, of Victoria. “How dare he?”

Thousands of adults use the public library’s computer banks to check emails, do research, apply for jobs, read news and watch YouTube videos.

Under First Amendment protection, adults have the right to also access some pornography.

The library’s rules and regulations say the free Internet access may not be used for illegal activity, to access illegal or obscene materials or to display material that violates the Texas Penal Code.

Read on…

YAKIMA HERALD REPUBLIC
Dan Catchpole | September 26, 2012

Yakima Valley Regional Library started blocking pornographic websites from its computers Wednesday after community members petitioned for tighter controls.

Library officials said a recent U.S. District Court ruling opened the door for them to be more selective about what content patrons can access while using a library’s computers.

Community members petitioned the library’s board of trustees for the policy change following a 22-year-old man’s arrest in August for allegedly masturbating while at one of the library’s computers. The board voted 5-0 to restrict online content at its Monday meeting.

The filters are works in progress, and will be reviewed and adjusted as needed, library Director Kim Hixson said. “We moved really quickly. We wanted to be proactive.”

But the new filters would not have prevented the August incident, because the man was not looking at content that would be considered pornographic, she said.

A local television station, however, reported last month that the man had been looking at sexually explicit material, which was not true, Hixson said.

Read on…

NEWS-HERALD
Letter to the Editor | June 15, 2012

I never realized that public libraries were in the business of loaning out pornographic books filled with bondage, sadism and masochism (“Library agrees to supply controversial bestseller,” news, June 7). I was especially surprised to learn from this article that our local library is planning to do so.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I thought public libraries were there for the public good, to enrich people’s lives and minds. How does a book such as “Fifty Shades of Grey” enrich people’s lives or their minds? And why does our local library feel the need to supply this book to its patrons?

Vicki Patterson, a local librarian and one of the review board members who approved the book, says it’s because “a book this much in demand should be available to the public.” Well, Ms. Patterson, the book is available to the public through various other means than a library, including countless bookstores, online, etc. Her reason that the book is in great demand is not a valid reason for the library to supply a pornographic book to the public. That used to be what X-rated bookstores were for.

Another member of the review board who also approved the book, Jim Boyd Jr., stated that he absolutely did not want a 12-year-old to read “Fifty Shades of Grey.” He went on to say “the library cannot assume the responsibility of requesting identification at the check-out counter …” If that is the case, that no one’s age will be verified before they can check out this book, then there is nothing that I can see that will prevent a young child, such as the 12-year-old Mr. Boyd is referring to (or an 11-year-old or 10-year-old), from checking out and reading this book. Could a lawsuit against the library then ensue from a parent who claims the library personnel allowed their young child to “view” pornography?

I don’t know the answer to that question. I do know it’s very sad that in Bay County, gone are the days when parents could drop off their young kids at the local public library and know they were in a safe and “clean” environment, reading about interesting and wonderful things like bugs, polar bears, the solar system, ocean creatures and so on. Now at the library, parents have to worry about their kids getting their hands on a pornographic book.

Other public libraries across the country took the high road and refused to offer the book. Shame on you, Northwest Regional Library System, for not doing the same.

HARRIET ROSBOROUGH
Panama City