For Immediate Release	Contact:
Friday, October 19, 2007	Jim Cogan Office of Councilmember Constant (408) 535-4916 direct line (408) 666-2295 cell (408) 535-4901 main office

 

                                             
                                          

 

“Councilmember Constant Recommends City Council Action to Reduce Dangers of Second-Hand Porn at Public Libraries”

SAN JOSE, CA—City Councilmember Pete Constant is concerned about “second-hand porn” available online at all City Libraries and he is taking action to protect our children.  According to Councilmember Constant, “We have spent countless hours working to protect our children from second-hand smoke in parks, but have done nothing to protect them from the dangers of viewing obscene material over the shoulder of adult porn-viewers.”                         

Current City Library Policy calls for library staff to intervene only when a complaint is registered and leaves the option of screening a monitor up to the discretion of the staff.  In some cases, action is up to the complainants to avert their eyes to protect the porn-viewers rights.  Councilmember Constant disagrees with the City’s negligence in protecting our children and cites a violation of the 2000 Children’s Internet Protection Act, a federal law enacted by Congress in December of 2000.  Known as the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CPIA), compliance is required by any school or library in order to receive funding from the “E-rate” program. 

San Jose police records show arrest reports of a number of individuals viewing child pornography in libraries and a year-old ABC 7 I-Team investigation caught adult porn-viewers publicly masturbating and performing other lewd acts while viewing porn in public libraries.  According to police reports, these are not isolated incidents. 

Councilmember Constant wants the violations to stop and calls on the City to develop policy that would require filtering programs and child-friendly Internet-use.