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Should libraries filter Internet porn?

Published Monday, August 30, 2004 by seanlmccarthy | E-mail this post

The city of Phoenix is wrestling with the issue many other cities have faced in the past decade -- can they and should they put Internet filters in their libraries to keep porn away from the kiddies and the pervs? Unfortunately, Sunday's Arizona Republic story continues to propagate the same old myth that Internet filters are unreliable and block out safe sites for people wanting to research breast cancer or Congressman Norm Dicks. Reporters everywhere continue to fall for this argument without ever getting themselves to a library and surfing the filtered Web for themselves. That's what I did in January 2001, when I wrote a column for the Bremerton Sun on the topic. Then again, did I really look like that just three years ago? Yowza. Maybe they should put the filters on me.