Saratoga News

Council takes a second look at children's Internet access

By Sarah Lombardo

The Saratoga City Council is taking on the issue of children's access to the Internet at local and county libraries. The council met this week to discuss the issue and a recent report commissioned by the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Santa Clara County Library District's Joint Powers Authority. The report was conducted by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and outlines the pros and cons of filtering the Internet vs. open access.

The move comes after last week's 7-to-3 vote by the CAC to affirm the JPA's open-access policy for all individuals at the library. The JPA has maintained that it is the parents' obligation to watch their children and screen what they are accessing on the Internet. Local Library Commission chairwoman Marcia Manzo made the motion to affirm the current policy, and Campbell's CAC representative, Bob Francis, seconded. The CAC representatives from Gilroy, Morgan Hill and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County all dissented.

"It's a really difficult issue," Manzo said previous to the meeting. "But I believe, and it was unanimous with the other members of the [Saratoga Library] commission, that open access should be maintained."

City Councilmember Stan Bogosian, the council's representative on the JPA, said in a phone interview with the Saratoga News that he believes the current policy of the JPA--which he described as "maintain open access and not look further"--should be altered and that the JPA should explore other options in addition to keeping access open for adults.

"My feeling is that the JPA and the community have an obligation to at least offer a choice to parents who would prefer that their children not be exposed to what is, I think, some rather questionable material available on the Internet," he said. "I am in favor of the JPA investigating various options including, but not limited to, filters and swipe cards that would allow parents to choose access options for kids."

Some parents, primarily from Gilroy, who spoke at least week's CAC meeting said they feared that children visiting the library and doing research on public computers could happen upon and be affected by pornography on the Internet without a filtering system. One mother even told the committee how she and her daughter stumbled upon a Playboy site while trying to look up information on rabbits for a 4-H project.

"Your duty is to review available technology and make a recommendation to the Joint Powers Authority," mother Mary Drummond said, "not to sweep it under the rug."

The committee, although voting to affirm the current policy, does plan to meet this Wednesday night, Oct. 22, in the Community Room of the Cupertino Library to discuss further recommendations to the JPA about exploring filtering technologies.

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