SPECIAL ACTION ALERT!

Make Our Libraries Safe Again for Our Children!

VAC wants Pornography Filters on Library Computers!

Today, anyone with a library card can log onto any computer in any San Jose Library and go to any Internet site on earth! In fact, to our knowledge, there are no pornography and obscenity filters on any computer in any library in Santa Clara County!

Not having filters is outrageous! We must make our libraries family safe once again. We must protect our children and grandchildren from internet pornography.
 

Larry Pegram
President

Pornography is a monumental problem in America today affecting people from all
walks of life. Studies have shown that many started their obsession with
pornography during adolescence by looking at magazines and Internet images.

Pornography viewing results in incidents of disorderly conduct,
lewd acts, and sex trafficking in the libraries

Child predators are known to frequent the libraries. Just at the Martin Luther King
Main Library alone, in the first seven months of 2007, law enforcement dealt with
over thirty-five incidents of disorderly conduct (soliciting a lewd act, sex offenses,
and trafficking in obscene matter).

Library Administration Misinformed About Their Need to Install Porn Filters

The prevalence of illogical, misguided thinking by the library administration vs. plain old
common sense on the part of parents, grandparents, educators, law enforcement, and
the counseling profession have kept filters from being installed on our library computers.
The truth is the library administration not only has the federal mandate to install
pornography filters in the libraries, they also have the responsibility to do so to protect
our children.

U.S. Supreme Court Rules that Pornography Filters in Libraries do not
interfere with a First Amendment Rights to freedom of speech

The United States Supreme Court ruled that communities have the right to control
the visual images viewed on the computers in their public libraries. Pornographic
and obscene material is not on library shelves. Computer content can and should
also be controlled. Additionally,the Congress and State legislature have passed
legislation withholding certain library funds if a city does not have a filter policy.

Library Filter Policy was Presented to the San Jose City Council

The Values Advocacy Council and the Alliance Defense Fund, a public interest
law firm, have prepared a filter policy that is in compliance with the U.S.
Supreme Court ruling and guidelines. This is a policy that protects our children
from Internet pornography and obscenity and will help make our libraries a safeplace
once again. This is a policy that can and must be adopted immediately by our City
Council. Click here to read the proposed policy and the Alliance Defense Fund
legal opinion.

Your Action is Needed to Enact the San Jose Library Filter Policy

Your help is needed. We need your help to convince the San Jose City Council to vote
to approve the proposed policy to keep pornography and obscenity out of our
public libraries.

This policy will be before the San Jose City Council for discussion and a vote in early
November. In a few of weeks, we will provide the council timetable and the name
and contact information for the Councilmembers.

We wish to let the Council know with an intense communication effort requesting
that the policy be adopted and filtering be installed on the library computers.

Action Items Prior to San Jose Councilmember’s Vote

      1. Make calls to the San Jose City Councilmembers—We’ll give you their
           phone numbers!

      2. Send emails and faxes to the San Jose City Councilmembers—We’ll supply
           email addresses and fax numbers!

      3. If possible, attend the San Jose City Council meeting where this issue will
           be decided—We’ll send out a notice as to where and when!

When the issue has been placed on the City Council agenda, will send out
an Action Alert! with specific information about how to take these actions.

Questions or comments?
E-mail us at contact@vac.org or call 408-267-0800