And from the other side of the issue...

Jim Minnery in the Anchorage (AK) Daily News has published an editorial calling for libraries to not selected protecting "our so-called liberties" at the expense of protecting children. Many of the public libraries in Alaska forgo the Federal and state government discounts on internet access fees because they do no want to install filters. 

Mr. Minnery feels that librarians cannot effectively monitor dozens of computers in a public library, looking for child pornography. He is correct. But if every child in a library had a parent monitoring what they were doing on the internet, Mr. Minnery would have nothing to worry about. 

Mr. Minnery makes the point that "Most parents don't know, and are generally shocked by, what kids are doing on sites like MySpace and FaceBook." Perhaps his organization, the Alaskan Family Council, should work with families on connecting with their children instead of lobbying for a bill that would require Alaskan public libraries to install internet filters. Intellectual freedom and access to information should not be sacrificed because parents do not understand what their children are doing online. 

Minnery, J. (2008, March 30). Libraries obliged to keep kids a click away from porn [Electronic version]. Anchorage Daily News, Retrieved March 31, 2008 from http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/360917.html