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April 21, 2005
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Blocking All Explicit Material Impossible, Library Official Says

May 12, 2005
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
County Panel Likely to Require Reports of Online Activity


Blocking all explicit material impossible, library official says

Thursday, April 21, 2005
By Nate Guidry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A computer expert yesterday told a County Council subcommittee that is considering legislation to block all pornographic material in Allegheny County's 44 public libraries that even the most sophisticated filters will let images through.

"Most filtering systems are very good at blocking texts and [specific Internet addresses]," said Dan Jude, chief executive officer of Security Software Systems, a Texas-based company. Unfortunately, he said, no technology is available to block sexually explicit graphics and photos.

Jude and several others attended a meeting yesterday of council's Public Safety Committee.

Members discussed legislation, authored by County Councilman Vince Gastgeb , that calls for the eiNetwork, which links the 44 public library systems of the Allegheny County Library Association, to use filters capable of blocking all pornographic or inappropriate material found on the Web.

The legislation was in response to a February incident at the Bethel Park Library in which a pair of 12-year-old girls sat down at a computer terminal to review homework. At the same time, a man sitting next to them viewed nude women wrestling .

The man, Scott Rickenbach, 38, was charged with disorderly conduct. He also was ordered to have a psychological evaluation, not to enter a public library or have harmful contact with children.

"The incident that occurred in the library is a public safety issue," Gastgeb said. "Unfortunately, those little girls grew up a little quicker than they needed to."

Speaking during yesterday's meeting, District Judge Robert C. Wyda, who charged Rickenbach, said Rickenbach had engaged in that type of behavior for a couple of years.

"The librarians knew it was going on, but they couldn't catch him," Wyda said.

Viewing pornographic material is not illegal for someone older than 17, and library staff can remove a filter when an adult patron makes such a request. It is illegal for a library patron to view certain material, such as child pornography.

Gastgeb wants to block all indecent material, like the Web site viewed at Bethel Park Library.

His resolution would deny county funding to the eiNetwork if the filters are not maintained.

Currently, the county does not provide any direct annual funds to the eiNetwork. Instead, about $2.3 million comes from the county's Regional Asset District, which, under state law, provides money for libraries and other cultural institutions using county sales tax revenue.

All libraries that accept federal funds already are required to block access to certain Web sites under the Children's Internet Protection Act, a federal law passed in 2000.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh uses NetSweeper filtering software.

Marilyn Jenkins, executive director of ACLA, said the software is updated on a regular basis.

"The way the blocking system works is, it blocks text. If something slips through, it is reported."

"Every library has an Internet policy. We are constantly trying to identify ways to prevent this from happening," Cynthia Rechey, Mt. Lebanon public librarian, said at the meeting.

The committee plans to meet again next month to discuss the legislation.

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Library Net porn incidents in focus

County panel likely to require reports of online activity

Thursday, May 12, 2005
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A County Council committee likely will approve a resolution today that would require the Allegheny County Library Association to issue annual reports of incidents involving illegal viewing of pornographic or obscene material on public library computers.

But because of state laws limiting access to library records and the First Amendment, the reports will not list the names of anyone involved in a specific incident.

Councilman Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park, first introduced the resolution in March, and he has been working with Marilyn Jenkins, the association's executive director, and other library officials during the last few weeks to make adjustments.

"The libraries have been the ones helping me the most with this," Gastgeb said.

In February, a 12-year-old girl saw a man viewing nude women on a computer at the Bethel Park Library. The library updated its filtering software and the girl's mother later contacted Gastgeb about the incident.

All libraries that accept funds from the federal government are already required to block access to certain Web sites under the Children's Internet Protection Act, a federal law passed in 2000.

The eiNetwork, the computer network that links the 44 public library systems that belong to ACLA, already uses a filtering system and regularly applies improvements to that technology.

Gastgeb's resolution would call on the library association to notify council by Oct. 1 of every year about efforts to update its filters. The association would also list the date of any incidents and describe how they were handled.

If ACLA does not meet these requirements, the county would withhold funding for the eiNetwork.

Currently, Allegheny County does not provide any direct funds to the network. But about $2.3 million comes from the county's Regional Asset District, which, under state law, can provide money for libraries and other cultural institutions using county sales tax revenue.

An amended version of the resolution being considered by council's Public Safety Committee today makes clear that the eiNetwork, and not the entire library association, would lose funding if the reports are not filed. The amended resolution also says the incident reports will not include names.

Charles Martoni, the committee chairman, said he would approve sending the resolution to the full council for a vote as long as library officials are satisfied with the changes.

"I don't want this to be an anti-library bill," he said.

Cynthia Richey, director of Mt. Lebanon Public Library and a member of ACLA's board of directors, doesn't think it is.

"It's well intentioned," she said. "It reinforces on a county level what is already happening at the state and federal level."

Richey, a former chairwoman of the eiNetwork's Internet access committee, said she has been working with Gastgeb and would be advising council about the annual reports if the resolution passes.

The amended resolution also calls for the county police and the district attorney's office to conduct seminars with library staff about appropriate Internet usage.

If the committee approves the resolution, County Council members will vote on it during a meeting on Wednesday. The regular meeting will be a day later than usual because of the Tuesday election.

The resolution already has bipartisan support. Democrats Martoni and Joan Cleary have joined Republicans Gastgeb, Jan Rea and Eileen Watt as sponsors.

Richey said, besides the Bethel Park incident, she has not heard about serious problems at county libraries. She said her library has had a few minor incidents that wouldn't need to be reported.

"We've had more problems with people trying to stay on the computers for too long," she said.

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