Quote :

"Sources say two teens arrested in connection with the murder of a Wendell woman were banned from one Wake County library branch. It turned out that they were using the library's computers to access their MySpace.com accounts, which had pictures of them flashing gang symbols. "

Welcome to the fucking internet... lots of shit goes down on it.

Quote :

"Michael Mueller, who was at a library branch with his son Wednesday, said he understands the concerns, but he believes a better answer is for parents to log more miles in their children's Internet world."

Yep.

MySpace is full of fucking morons, but any sort of censorship by our public libraries is fucking stupid. Not to mention I'm sure there are plenty of kids who just want to dick around on MySpace who now won't be able to.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1210713/

2/26/2007 6:16:41 PM

wonderful

2/26/2007 6:39:50 PM

What better place than to exercise free speech, than a library!!!!

2/26/2007 7:03:18 PM

why don't we just ban computers, oh and books too

2/26/2007 7:31:04 PM

didn't they put a curfew down where teenagers couldn't congregrate in groups larger than 4 people?

2/26/2007 7:48:39 PM

myspace should be banned from the internet.

2/26/2007 7:50:22 PM

^

2/26/2007 9:54:01 PM

i hate giving bands an easy place to host their songs too.

2/26/2007 10:09:34 PM

i think banning sites from libraries is understandable

2/26/2007 10:22:37 PM

i think it's ridiculous. it's basically saying: the entirety of the web is only appropriate for those who can afford it.

[Edited on February 26, 2007 at 10:24 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2007 10:24:30 PM

so then people can look at anything on publicly funded library computers? they can look at porn?

this measure is basically saying that the resources dont exist to parent these children so some sites need to be banned for their safety

2/26/2007 10:28:10 PM

i think it would be ok to have a kid filter or something. and you may need an adult library card to get past it. but i really disagree with blocking it for adults.

2/26/2007 10:34:03 PM

Quote :

"myspace should be banned from the internet."

for the fucking win right here

2/26/2007 10:36:49 PM

Making everything in the world kid-safe so lazy parents don't have to watch their kids is sucking the joy out of life.

2/26/2007 11:11:18 PM

But that would be the death of "To Catch a Predator".

2/26/2007 11:18:47 PM

Quote :

"i think it would be ok to have a kid filter or something. and you may need an adult library card to get past it. but i really disagree with blocking it for adults."

i would agree with that, but most of the kid filtering solutions are garbage

2/26/2007 11:23:25 PM

Hell, some guy was caught masturbating in a Cleveland library, but I don't think that he was permanently barred from entering the same library.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IOc-N6475mY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=M_wdyga9pCk

PS: Apparently, they did finally ban him.


[Edited on February 27, 2007 at 12:55 AM. Reason : .]

2/27/2007 12:39:24 AM

im against censorship and all that...

but how does having access to Myspace, and all the worthless crap contained therein, facilitate the mission of our Public Library System?

I mean, the last time i used a public library computer terminal ... like 4-5 years ago, i remeber having to wait a long time while people (kids/adults) obviously fucked around on stupid chat boards and retarded games. I was actually trying to access some research-related stuff. it pissed me off.



[Edited on February 27, 2007 at 1:20 AM. Reason : ]

2/27/2007 1:18:01 AM

i remember the last time i went to the library and wanted to check out some research-related material i had to wait behind all these people checking out fiction, picture books and romance novels.

2/27/2007 8:23:41 AM

Its a pain to be at the library and need a computer and like 7 teenagers are on myspace.

2/27/2007 9:44:55 AM

Quote :

"i remember the last time i went to the library and wanted to check out some research-related material i had to wait behind all these people checking out fiction, picture books and romance novels."

boo fucking hoo

[Edited on February 27, 2007 at 10:02 AM. Reason : nice parady tho]

2/27/2007 10:01:21 AM

Well I can say that as an IT guy at a school system who has a library and multiple labs, we filter a lot of shit, including Myspace/Facebook/etc. Teachers computers are not excepted either. Even the administrative offices are blocked, so the superintendent can't even get onto sites such as Myspace. My office is the only one that gets through the content filter, otherwise I could not even get on THIS site.

We have a few reasons for this. One to protect ourselves from illegal activity, like downloading music, kiddie porn, etc. Another is to keep our bandwidth usage under control. Computers running sites like MySpace will hit your bandwidth pretty hard, esp. if they start trying to stream some music. It also can load up your computer with spyware and other crap that will mess with the computers and the net connection. We also do it to keep people for using it only for necessary functions. Like mentioned above, if you have 5-10 stations and people are hogging them up to surf Myspace, then people can't search the library catalog or do research. Myspace is NOT fucking research. These people also stay on it far longer than somebody who is simply looking up some material and printing it out or downloading it to a disk.

I personally completely understand because this is how I run my network. Kids in the library don't have unlimited rights to get to whatever they want to, just like kids in a school library or lab. The computers will be clogged up with users, the bandwidth is choked up, the computers will be infected with viruses and/or spam and subsequently be down longer, etc. etc.

2/27/2007 10:39:05 AM

Libraries are not schools. With that in mind, it's ridiculous that they are censoring the internet. And then we have fucktards who say "well they can go on myspace on their own personal computer". ....Jesus.

2/27/2007 10:43:34 AM

ABC news said they were looking at "porn" on myspace

hahah, way to do your reasearch guys

2/27/2007 10:46:51 AM

So you think people should be able to look up porn on the computers at the library?? Myspace is just a waste of time its like facebook.

2/27/2007 10:47:41 AM

Porn? No. It has a negative externality; kids can see it if they are walking by. Unintended, of course, but you can't allow that to happen in a public setting.

MySpace on the other hand doesn't allow porn, in theory. Hearing the news cite MySpace as a source of pornography is not only factually wrong but incredibly sloppy journalism. People should be allowed to go to whatever fucking website they want on a public computer station so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. If it's a problem of people hogging the computers then you make a policy that limits how long patrons can use a station.

They either made this policy and it didn't get them the results they wanted or they just stopped fucking around and plainly went after their goal.

2/27/2007 10:51:43 AM

i think Madman goes to the libraries to surf k1dd13 pr0n

2/27/2007 12:40:46 PM

I dunno about you, but I get TONS of porn spam on my damn Myspace page. While it may be hosted offsite, and the content that is on Myspace is removed quickly, its still very possible to get porn on Myspace. Its shitty little stupid ass pictures, but it is pornographic in nature, if not a full XXX-rated movie.

2/27/2007 2:22:42 PM

It's obviously not a porno site, though. And I highly doubt people use it as such. Regardless, you'd have to block like 95% of the internet if you wanted to solve the "Internet Porn" problem.

2/27/2007 2:58:56 PM

they should block email too, because people get lots of porn spam and a child could walk by.

2/27/2007 3:01:21 PM

Quote :

"WAKE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES BUSINESS PLAN FY06-FY07 1. Statement of Purpose A. Mission Statement: To promote the love of reading and foster the pursuit of knowledge among the residents of the county"

I don't have a problem with Wake County doing this, but then again I hate MySpace in the first place so I might be a little biased. Then again, if they blocked TWW or some flash game website, I would probably not care because those sites aren't for learning purposes.

2/27/2007 3:05:42 PM

Seriously, I am happy that my hard earned tax dollars aren't being pissed away so yet another dumb ass un-parented kid can go get indoctrinated into the MySpace mentality.

This is a great idea. Libraries are bastions of knowledge and learning, not fucking around on internet cliques and bullshit like that.

2/27/2007 3:13:29 PM

I'd rather have kids dicking around on MySpace to kill time than out doing criminal shit.

2/27/2007 3:14:37 PM

I'd rather have kids dicking around on MySpace reading the news online or reading books to kill time than out doing criminal shit.

2/27/2007 3:22:15 PM

^^ Yea, I mean, we all know that spats that used to happen in the hallways of schools and ultimately broke out into harmless fights can't exist on MySpace, where they'll get solved away from school, in an even harmless matter.

2/27/2007 3:55:50 PM

Play fair, it's a lesser of two evils anyway. Idle hands..

2/27/2007 4:28:02 PM

Idle hands? Gimme a break. Are there any studies showing myspace useage drops crime rates? Or is this more of a common sense thing that myspace is going to have that effect?

Whatever were kids to do before myspace to keep them out of trouble. I can't imagine any of them would want to pick up a basketball...DON'T MAKE THE KIDS ACTUALLY GO OUTSIDE!!!!

2/27/2007 4:31:30 PM

Anyway my point wasn't about telling kids what to do, it was more about bullshit censorship as a solution to a greater problem.

2/27/2007 4:52:09 PM

Because people absolutely must check their MySpace. All the time. I'm not for censorship, but I think the library computers should be used for legitimate research, paying bills, checking email, etc. Should people really be in there talking on AIM, looking at porn, downloading music, playing Sudoku etc?

2/27/2007 4:57:23 PM

If you don't like their rules for the free Internet access that they provide, use a computer somewhere else.

OMG I CANT BELIEVE I GOT KICKED OUT OF THE LIBRARY FOR DIRECTING EVERY BROWSER TO MEATSPIN.COM...FUCK THIS CENSORSHIP

2/27/2007 5:08:18 PM

the whole point is that plenty of people don't have a computer elsewhere that they can use. not to mention, since when did we want the gov't deciding is appropriate for adults?

2/27/2007 6:40:28 PM

Quote :

"so then people can look at anything on publicly funded library computers? they can look at porn? "

two things, this is fact protected and viable use of a library computer.

Quote :

"the whole point is that plenty of people don't have a computer elsewhere that they can use. not to mention, since when did we want the gov't deciding is appropriate for adults?"

lemon law. Also, libraries are not places for internet access. they are places for research and reading books. just be happy they have the internet there. if you want to go to myspace so bad, go to an internet cafe. the budget for wake county library should not be taken up by people surfing myspace. It should be used to expand collections and provide internet for people who have an actual reason to be there other than to look at their friends myspace page or play internet games.

2/27/2007 6:49:54 PM

^ word

2/27/2007 7:24:31 PM

Quote :

"just be happy they have the internet there. if you want to go to myspace so bad, go to an internet cafe."

So basically what you're saying is that internet for fun and entertainment should be for rich people only.

Quote :

"It should be used to expand collections and provide internet for people who have an actual reason to be there other than to look at their friends myspace page or play internet games."

I mean, all the books and magazines inside the library have some sort of educational value too, don't they? People reading Sports Illustrated shouldn't be allowed to sit in seats; those are for kids doing research only. It's my goddamn tax money!

2/27/2007 9:25:20 PM

Quote :

"So basically what you're saying is that internet for fun and entertainment should be for rich people only. "

I'm saying it shouldn't be paid for with my tax dollars. This is akin to giving hurricane "victims" money after their homes were destroyed and they go blow it on booze and hookers.


Internet access at public libraries should be for learning. It's sad that some extremely poor folks don't have the luxury of fucking around on MySpace on their paid for internet connection like others do. But that should give them an incentive to stop being poor.

[Edited on February 27, 2007 at 10:00 PM. Reason : x]

2/27/2007 10:00:14 PM

You completely blew off my other point: why is it OK to allow access to and provide obviously uneducational print materials while restricting access to uneducational material online? It's a ridiculous, thinly veiled shot at the "poor black" demographic.

[Edited on February 27, 2007 at 10:14 PM. Reason : .]

2/27/2007 10:10:53 PM

I don't equate a single thing in print that exists in a library to the shit that is MySpace. Not a single thing. Additionally, if we are trying to characterize material, Sports Illustrated is certainly more than just a piece of entertainment prose in which to waste your time.

Quote :

"It's a ridiculous, thinly veiled shot at the "poor black" demographic."

Is this a joke?

2/27/2007 10:24:42 PM

You must not understand the rather obvious precedent this will establish.

2/27/2007 10:38:41 PM

I guess I don't.

2/27/2007 10:42:05 PM

myspace is banned on my ship

2/27/2007 10:52:08 PM