Free to be smutty

Libraries should not censor Internet access

The issue of filtering Internet sites seemed to have disappeared from the national scope ever since the e-commerce-dot-coms came along and transformed the Internet into the newest marketplace. The Internet, often vilified with stories of minor's access to pornography by major media at the beginning of its popularity, has been transformed. What once seemed to parents like the equivalent of allowing their children to play in middle of the street or be left alone with sex offenders has become the domain of Disney and Nickelodeon. In some conservative areas, though, the thought of allowing kids unfettered net access in public libraries has been enough to send family groups into a tizzy. And we need look no farther than the western side of the state for the evidence.

In what is being hailed as a victory for the fight against censored public Internet access, voters in Holland, rejected a precedent-setting initiative to install Internet filters on public library computers Tuesday. Holland is the first city in the nation to confront the issue of Internet censorship in a local vote. The ordinance, which was spearheaded by Holland Area Citizens Voting YES! to Protect Our Children and subsidized heavily by the Mississippi-based American Family Association, would have cut off funding to any local libraries refusing to install Internet filtering software. The local libraries, which maintained their policies adequately protected children from questionable material, refused to install filtering software that could stamp breast cancer research sites as pornographic just as easily as the real porn sites. This effort to "protect the children" was little more than a deplorable attempt of censorship.

Taxpayers should have the right to view any material they wish when they visit the library. In Holland, taxpayers spoke against restricting access with questionable Internet filtering software. Censoring the Net may have been voted down this time, but the fight to restrict access continues. Commenting on the fight to censor the Internet in Holland area libraries, LoriJo Schepers, a member of Citizen Voting YES! told the Associated Press after the results of the city-wide vote, "This is not a stopping point. We consider this a journey."

The fight against censorship is also a journey. Local governments should not be allowed to withhold funding for public libraries because of an issue as minor as censorship disagreements. Society's ills cannot be blamed on the Internet, pornography, or any other scapegoat. We have made enough progress with preserving free speech and reforming censorship laws that restricting Internet access to the taxpaying public should no longer be a concern.