Filters to be placed on library computers

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- More computers in the city’s public library system

will be filtered to prevent access to Internet pornography and other

sites containing hate groups and heavy profanity.

The City Council voted 4-1 Monday to place filters on 10 more

computers at Huntington Beach Central Library and up to 80 computers

scheduled to be upgraded with Internet access at the system’s five

locations.

Ten computers in the Central Library’s children’s section have been

filtered since 1996 as a matter of policy. In December, the council

formalized the policy by making it a city law.

The additional computers will have limited Web access software

installed by June 12, said Ron Hayden, the city’s director of library

services.

Mayor Dave Garofalo stepped out while the item was discussed and voted

on. Councilman Ralph Bauer is on an out-of-town trip. Councilwoman

Shirley Dettloff dissented.

Ten computers in the library’s media section, a secluded room, will

still have unlimited access to everything on the Internet, Hayden said.

Computer users in this section need to be at least 18 years old.

“My concern is for young people not to be exposed to some of the

sexually explicit things that might come across the Internet or some of

the hate groups’ sites,” said Councilman Dave Sullivan. “[The vote] seems

to be a compromise to make unrestricted stuff available to adults in only

certain areas of the library.”

City Administrator Ray Silver said it is the city’s policy that adults

have access to the Internet at appropriate locations in the library.

“The city doesn’t think it has an obligation to provide unfiltered

access to Internet sites in wide open locations throughout the library,”

he said. “The same way we don’t provide Hustler or Playboy is the same

way we don’t think it is appropriate that kids should be sitting in an

open area in a public library using a computer paid by public funds to

get access to pornography.”

Dettloff said she voted against the policy because the added

restrictions would probably require additional staff, and the issue of

hiring that staff was not finalized. Dettloff said she agrees with the

policy because not all of the computers will be filtered.

“I would assume that people use the library correctly, and we don’t

have to put devices on our computers to make sure they use it correctly,”

she said.

Norm Westwell, a resident of Englewood Circle, said using library

staff to provide such services is useless because filtering general-use

computers is not needed.

“It is a big waste of my tax dollars,” he said. “The City Council is

taking action on something we don’t have a problem with and nobody is

complaining about.”

Hayden said the city may hire five new employees, such as computer

technicians, children and reference librarians and library assistants, to

assist users on filtered computers.

Those staffers will help patrons retrieve information from Web sites

that provide sex education and literature, which the city deems as

legitimate, he said.

Hayden said the cost of those employees along with the new filtration

software is projected at nearly $138,000 a year.

City staff will present the council with a formal report in July or

August on hiring additional library employees, he said.

The issue of filtering Internet computers first came to the council

last year. State law requires cities to adopt formal policies by the end

of 1999 limiting access to objectionable Internet sites to minors or else

risk losing state library funding. Huntington Beach stood to loose more

than $300,000, Hayden has said. Last December, following their decision

on limiting access for children, council members gave staff direction to

look into filtering other library computers.

Hayden said the Huntington Beach Library Board did not agree with the

request because most cities had not restricted Internet access on their

general-use computers, and that restriction would violate First Amendment

rights.

Also, restriction is not 100% effective, and it prevents access to

some legitimate sites, Hayden said.

Hayden said full implementation of the council’s latest Internet

policy will be carried out by the end of the year.

QUESTION

Do you think the City Council was right to vote for filters that keep

patrons from pulling up pornographic or hate-related Web sites on the

Internet-access computers at area libraries? Call our Readers Hotline at

965-7175, fax us at 965-7174 or send e-mail too7 [email protected]

Please spell your name and tell us your hometown and phone number for

verification purposes only.