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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Library User Viewing Porn Upsets Girl

Item: Perusing in public: Some library computers are unfiltered for a good reason, but that also allows patrons chance to view pornography/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press

More Info: Compared to cell phone chatter, it barely registers. But the explicit images Elisabeth Goltz's fourth-grade daughter saw on a library patron's computer screen shocked her. The girl, at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library on Nov. 21 for a class trip, was perusing the upper level when she saw a man she'd describe as wrinkly, with long, gray hair looking at naked women on his computer. She did not report it to library staff. Instead, the girl kept quiet until her mother was tucking her in that night.

David Townsend/CdA Library: "Indications are that the incident described was probably someone using their own laptop rather than one of the unfiltered computers in the library's computer lab. Filtering would not have an impact on the WiFi... users who are in the library on their own computers. Users do agree - by logging on to the library WiFi - to not view pornography in the library. If staff get complaints a patron's behavior is disruptive -- including viewing porn -- they can be asked to leave."

Question: Should more be done to prevent adults from viewing pornography at a library computer?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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