YNOT – The Greensboro, N.C., public library system has discovered a way to discourage patrons from surfing pornography on public computers without installing content filters that might censor legitimate Web content.The library was inclined to agree it had a problem with “inappropriate” use of its taxpayer-funded public internet terminals after employees caught 89 patrons viewing explicit online content during the first six months of 2009. Librarians also fielded complaints from parents and other concerned citizens about the types of material they had witnessed on the city’s 227 public screens. Instead of installing filters, library officials installed a device called a “bandwidth shaper” that categorizes content on the fly into “potentially porn” and “not porn.” The device slows the transmission of the potentially offensive material to a point viewers become too aggravated to wait long enough for the content to load.
Library officials hope the slow loading not only will cut down on the number of people surfing porn in public, but also will prevent innocent passersby from getting an accidental eyeful. The bandwidth-shaper selectively slows transmission of the offensive material to about 1 kilobit per second, or slower than an old-fashioned dial-up modem. In many cases, the user is presented with a time-out message before any images hit the screen.
Library Director Sandy Neerman said the bandwidth-shaper is preferable to filters because filters frequently mislabel content as “objectionable” when it’s not, and vice-versa. In addition, much of the content some people find offensive is hosted on social-networking sites like YouTube and Facebook or accessed via email. All of those sources are impractical to block, Neerman told the Associate Press.
The library will continue to enforce its current rules against surfers who are patient enough to wait out the slow loads. Under the current guidelines, a first offense brings a warning followed by bans from the premises for 24 hours and 30 days on the second and third offenses, respectively. A fourth offense lands the porn surfer permanent banishment backed up with a possible trespassing charge.
Some parents still aren’t satisfied.
“My total issue is that it should not be allowed,” Piedmont Homeschoolers Association member and mother Kimberly Romie told the AP. “Someone cannot stand over them the whole time. A child or a mom is going to end up walking in on this. And once you see it, you’ve seen it.”
