Local libraries, schools scrutinized as online porn tempts young Net users
hen Los Altos schools and libraries got wired to the Internet two years ago, parents celebrated the educational benefits technology would bring to their children.
Few imagined the new medium would open the classroom door to obscene material or involve the community in a nationwide debate on how to keep pornography more than a keystroke away from children without infringing on free-speech rights.
School administrators and library officials say pornography is not a problem in Los Altos, but some parents argue that the Internet has made schools and libraries the only places other than home where children have access to sexually explicit material.
“Libraries are not as safe a place as they used to be. We want to educate people because many have no idea,” said Sandi Zappa, a member of K.I.D.S. (Keep Internet Decent and Safe).
The group of parents staged protests at all nine of the county’s libraries last week, including the Los Altos Main Library last Thursday, in response to the county’s open access policy to pornography on library Internet terminals.
Zappa organized K.I.D.S. last January after she discovered children were accessing pornography at the county’s library branch in Gilroy.
She said anyone can inadvertently access hard-core pornography by merely typing words such as “candy” or “cartoon” on the computer.
Zappa said the group wants the library to change its policy to eliminate the possibility of children being able to access obscene material. She said the group hopes the county libraries will install software filters on computers to shield children from illegal pornography.
The group has collected more than 2,500 signatures on its petition to change library policy.
The group’s approximately 12 protesters encountered a mixed reaction during last Thursday’s demonstration in Los Altos, where they collected 23 signatures.
Lei-Lani Keelan and Amber Cornelius, juniors from Los Altos High School who signed the petition, said they believe the library is the wrong place to have pornography available.
“It’s not something that children need to see,” Keelan said. “I don’t think it’s (censoring the Internet) is taking away my rights because I’m not supposed to have access (to pornography) in the first place. It only makes sense to take it away.”
Carol Tefft, chief librarian at the Los Altos Main Library, said librarians do not interfere with the public’s choice of reading material or selected Internet sites. She said the library is a forum for the public to access information, so any attempt by the government to limit the public’s right to information could be deemed unconstitutional.
Tefft said software programs that filter Internet web sites are ineffective because none can distinguish between illegal pornography and legal material. She said filters could block anything from poetry by Ann Sexton (because of her name’s spelling) to information about breast cancer. She said filtering devices have even blocked out the White House Web site because it contained the word “couple.”
“Filters for home computers where a parent knows the age and values of their children is OK, but in a public library there are all ages, maturity levels and values. One size does not fit all,” Tefft said.
She said parents are the key to filtering material that their children access.
Tefft said the library does have Internet classes, docents available for assistance and bookmarks indicating children-friendly Web sites to help families use the Internet safely and easily.
Jay Freidland, co-founder of SurfWatch Software, Inc., a Los Altos-based company which makes software to filter Internet material, said the $8-billion-a-year pornography industry has moved into homes and schools world-wide. SurfWatch currently blocks about 60,000 obscene Web sites and 350 adult news groups, and provides blocking software to 8,000 school districts.
“The system is not perfect, but it is better than any (governmental) laws,” Freidland said.
He said the software is 90 to 95 percent effective and can easily be used to restrict access to specific addresses and keywords. It can also be tailored to meet a person’s specific needs. He said in a school science class, for example, teachers can block all sites except those referring to biology.
Congress has been leaning toward a “hands-off” policy and has been looking to technology firms for a solution since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month the Communications Decency Act unconstitutional for violating First Amendment rights, said a spokesperson for congresswoman Anna Eshoo.
President Bill Clinton met with Freidland July 16 to discuss how software programs such as SurfWatch can work to make the Internet “Family-friendly.”
Both school districts in Los Altos control Internet use through the honor code system, a written policy signed by parents and students which outlines acceptable computer behavior.
Dave McNulty, principal at Oak School and a member of the District Technology Committee for the Los Altos School District, said computer-use policies were developed with parental input through technology committees at each of the district’s eight schools.
“It’s an issue we’re watching carefully. At this point, we’ve had a good response from students and parents,” McNulty said.
Tom Jennings, assistant services manager for the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, said the district does not use filters because it is nearly impossible for software programs to shield students from obscene material. He said the district would have to reload its database everyday to keep abreast of every new expression being used for obscene sites.
Louis Tolbert, vice principal at Los Altos High School, said the school is still fine-tuning its Internet policies. All 70 computers at the school are equipped with a security system which locks Internet access completely until the proper code is used to open it, he said. Tolbert said this allows the teachers to know who is using Internet and when.
He said each situation is handled on an individual basis. He said there were only two known incidents of inappropriate Internet use last year. One student was suspended for printing out pornography from the Internet and distributing it on campus, Tolbert said.
Los Altos High senior Jon Weiner said most students are too embarrassed to access pornography even though it is easy to do.
Barbara Waight, Los Altos School District librarian, said school libraries “don’t have any hard or fast rules,” but the district does have more control over Internet use than the public libraries because the environment is tailored to the students.
She said computers face the librarian’s desk so viewing can be monitored. Bookmarks may be used to list the educational sites children can access without adult permission.
Waight said there has been few incidents of inappropriate computer use. Some curious second-graders typed the word “sex” on the computer, but the librarian stopped them before the situation got out of hand, she said.
“We don’t want a lot of rules if it’s not a problem,” Waight said. “If we get down a path we shouldn’t, then the district will put in restrictions.”
Margot Harrigan, president of the Los Altos-Mountain View Parent-Teacher Association, said censoring the Internet is at the ‘bottom of the PTA’s list.”
“The biggest challenge is there’s not enough technology,” she said. “This is Silicon Valley – our kids need to be exposed to the benefits of technology.”
