Santa Clarita County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has called county top librarian's plan to keep children from inadvertently seeing internet pornography "not good enough."

The county’s top librarian has proposed measures to keep children from inadvertently seeing Internet pornography while it is being viewed by adults in public libraries.

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich said, however, that's not good enough -- and the goal is to eliminate pornography completely from the Los Angeles County libraries.

"We will have a motion on the agenda Tuesday asking the librarian to come up with a way to eliminate pornography (from library computers)," said Tony Bell, spokesman for the supervisor, whose district includes the Santa Clarita Valley.

Four weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors directed County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd to report on the issue of pornography in county libraries.

The situation came to the supervisors' attention after a Canyon Country woman visited the local library with her 4-year-old daughter and noticed a man sitting next to them viewing pornography in plain sight of her child.

Librarian Todd, had tried some sleight of hand and misdirection in an attempt to divert attention away from the loathsome policy of unfiltered internet access on computers in publicly funded libraries.

The report identified five steps that might be taken to ensure children are not viewing pornography, but banning pornographic sites from library computers was not among those steps.

The steps include:

• Permanently attached privacy screens on all computers.


• Filters on children's computers to allow limited access to Internet sites.


• A change of location for adult computers so they are not in the direct path of travel for children.


• Public signs informing people of unfiltered computers in use.


• A requirement that any adult wishing to use a children's computer first receive permission from library staff.

Fortunately, Antonovich saw through the ruse and has asked for more.

Antonovich and his staff believe Todd's recommendations are not enough.

"We appreciate the work she's done. Furthermore, it does not behoove the taxpayer or library staff to go to such an extent to preserve the computers for porn users in a public place. We feel the most expeditious, fair, solution is to eliminate (pornography) altogether."

Read the entire article here.

Score one for the safety of our children. An AP story released by CANADA.com , reports that Yahoo has announced that it has shut down hundreds of chat rooms. The closures came after several of its top sponsors applied pressure following a news report which revealed that some of the rooms were used to promote sex with minors.


A Yahoo spokesperson declined to say when or if the user-created chat rooms would return. Let's hope never!

Welcome to all of you from the Ace of Spades.

This little blog is only part of something much bigger in scope. In addition to protecting childen from the nasty internet beasites, I'm involved in helping to protect the helpless and politically weak. Drop by Truth and Action to see some of the real action.

Thanks Therapist!

The problem of internet predators is a subject often discussed on this site as well as in the media in general. It is a very serious problem, but one from which loving parents can protect their children. All that is required is a little practical education of both parents and children.

The single most important ingredient for insulating kids is awareness. First and foremost, a parent must know who the enemy is. The primary concern is not the men fishing for children, they are opportunists using exploiting the system to satisfy their depraved desires. Instead, the antagonist is the system which gives predators the means to carry out their evil intentions.

Do not jump to the conclusion that it is the internet itself which is to blame. Like it or not, the internet is unavoidable. It is radio, television, newspapers and the telephone all rolled into one and it will be indispensable in the 21st century. The main culprit, which facilitates child predation, today is the chat room . Chat rooms are sites in which people exchange messages in real time using self assigned identities and they are usually unmoderated. Typically, predators pose as kids and then slowly but methodically develop relationships with their victims gaining their trust until they can arrange a face-to-face meeting. More on chat rooms here , here and here .

News10now.com from Upstate New York has posted an informative article explaining some of the issues of online predation and chat rooms:

Posing as a child surfing the Web, an undercover officer's asked to meet a man claiming he's a contractor. But when the man shows, police didn't find what they expected in the back of his truck.

"Hammers and nails and ladders and paint. The back of the pickup truck was completely cleaned out except for two things, rope and duct tape. He had told us online we would go to a remote part of the county park to have our sexual rendezvous. Our fear was if he was meeting a real child the child would never have come out alive," said Kenneth Citarella, Westchester County Assistant District Attorney.

[...]

Preying on children is getting easier as sites they go to, and schools don't block, add chat rooms. Those sites include Nickelodeon and various game Web sites.

Note the last paragraph above. Chat rooms exist as "features" of what otherwise might be considered acceptable sites. Every parent should be wary of chat rooms and discourage or prohibit their use. It is not hard. After all, it is the parents and not the children who own the computers, pay for the internet access and are in all respects responsible for the well being of their children.

Hooray for the good guys! Today, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed a new anti-spam act into law. Dubbed the "Georgia Slam Spam E-mail Act," the new law has teeth. Depending on the volume of spam sent, offences may be prosecuted as either misdemeanors or felonies with fines and/or jail terms for both types of convictions.

Earthlink president Garry Betty congratulated the Georgia Governor and the State General Assembly:

"The Georgia Slam Spam E-mail Act is an important step forward in the fight against fraudulent and unwanted commercial e-mail," said Garry Betty, EarthLink president and chief executive officer. "This law gives EarthLink and other businesses a new weapon in our arsenal to stop spam and protect Internet users against offensive and misleading commercial e-mail messages. We support the Act's penalties and its enforcement provisions."

Well done Georgia.

Read more here and here .

There is an echo in the library. This time the refrain is sung by the interim Helena, Montana library director Becky Foster.

"We do not filter the Internet access here because the filters do not work," Foster says. "Adults have a right to look at anything not pornographic." Apparently, trying to Google the word "breast" — with the intention of looking for information on "breast cancer" — can run afoul of Internet filters. [emphasis added]

Wait a minute, that sounds vaguely familiar. Oh yes, Laura Mitchell a city librarian in Escondido, CA. said almost the same thing back in February:

"Other programs block "key words," but many library officials nationwide object to them because they also block access to informational Web sites on various topics, such as breast cancer. [emphasis added]

One would think they were reading from the same playbook. Well, they are. The playbook is published by the American Library Association (ALA). You can't read it directly now, the ALA says it is "Under Revision", but it was there just a few weeks ago. The misdirection of bogus "breast cancer" and "Essex, England" examples to feed the press or concerned parents just in case anyone questioned the reason for not blocking porn in the PUBLIC library.

Back to Helena. The oh-so-concerned ALA tutored librarian had more to say about her deep concern for children exposed to porn in a PUBLIC library:

... public librarians aren't babysitters. "We want to make it a great experience," Foster says. "But we can't tell kids what to do or not to do."

But not having a policy doesn't sit quite right with parent Joe Pennington. After his daughter became upset at others' porn use, Pennington and other parents asked for action.

"My thoughts are they have to do something," says Pennington, a two-time Democratic candidate for the Legislature from Elliston. "What happened happened, but we can stop it from happening again."

... "One thing I'd like people to know is: Do you know that your child has access to pornography?" Pennington says. "I didn't know. Did I fail or is the system failing?" [emphasis added]

Did she actually say "But we can't tell kids what to do or not to do?" I thought that is exactly what rules were for. Doesn't the library have a rule about shouting or raising a ruckus? How about a rule banning weapons inside the library? Making such an absurd statement is shameful, but unfortunately that attitude is very common in our public library systems. The answer to Mr. Pennington's question is that the library system is failing. Just ask the good people in Vacaville, CA.

Read more about Helena's library echo here .

To recognize a librarian's weasel words, see:"The Basics of Child Safe Internet Surfing" point 7, here at The Lifeguard.

Have I mentioned that many, many libraries refuse to add internet filters to their publicly accessible and publicly financed computers? A Vacaville, CA woman and her daughters went to the library to look for children's books. What they found was "something very adult."

"There was a young boy (next to us), who I believe was a minor, looking at pornography. I looked at my kids, and my 9-year-old daughter was staring right at it."

...

"We came to the library to check out books and promote learning for our kids. Instead, I had to explain to my 9- and 6-year-old daughters what Internet pornography was."

Of course, the standard mind-numbing response was given:

"Legal experts say libraries can choose whether to filter pornographic material. According to McGeorge law professor Leslie Jacobs, "libraries may constitutionally choose to exclude pornography from both their print and Internet offerings. Libraries may exercise broad discretion in choosing what material to include in their collections."

While it may be legal for libraries not to provide internet filters, it is also not right. The mother in this story agrees:

"It just makes me mad. The whole thing makes me mad. I don't expect my kids to live in a bubble, but to come to a public library? It's just appalling to me."

Agreed! Read the story here .

Are you part of the spam problem? According to a study conducted by the security company Mirapoint and the market research company The Radicati Group nearly one third of users have clicked on a link in a spam email. The study also states that one in ten have actually purchased products or services from spam emails.

Most people do not realize that clicking a link in a spam email not only invites more spam into their inbox by letting the spammer know that their email address is valid, it also opens their computer up to viruses, spyware and other nasty things which can ruin their day. Even if the link clicked is the unsubscribe link there is a great probability they will expose themselves to the same dangers. Many, if not most, spammers are not running ethical businesses. They are in the spam business for one reason: the quick buck. They can make that buck by either selling something, which may never actually be delivered, or by using the victim's credit card information themselves for illicit gain, or by selling validated email addresses to other equally unscrupulous characters.

Read more here .

The Utah internet porn site registry bill was signed into law today by Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. In spite of the obligatory threats by the ACLU, Governor Huntsman signed the legislation which requires ISPs to provide blocking of pornographic web sites at a customer's request.

I commented earlier on this bill and the hysterical reactions it has caused in the ranks of the pro-pornography activists in Utah and elsewhere. These same activists are now using the "Utah taxpayers ... could be saddled with legal bills ranging from $100,000 to $1 million." gambit as an argument. The pro-pornography activists certainly hope that is the case.

The source article, from The Salt Lake Tribune, is here . A less shrill version from The Register is here .

Warning: the authors of The Salt Lake Tribune article have a definite slant which is very apparent in the presentation. Yes, I do too but I don't write for a newspaper and I never make the claim that I am unbiased in my contempt for porn operators and the horse they rode in on.

So said Michael McTavish, director of the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crime Task Force. He was talking about the dangers of online predators.

In spite of the ominous subject, McTavish said that parents can easily thwart predators. Rule number 1 is: "Computers should never be in bedrooms. If a computer is in a common area, most parents will pick up on it when something strange is going on." [The emphasis is mine -- BigSurf].

If you have read many of the posts on this site you will find that I strongly advocate another co-equal rule. Rule 1a is: Never allow a child to use a chat room.

Fortunately, law enforcement officials say they are doing a much better job of apprehending offenders both before and after they strike. For more information on reporting potential online predators visit obscenityCrimes.org.

Read the full text of what McTavish and others had to say about online predators here .

It is no surprise that 54% of malware is written to extort money from unsuspecting victims. According to Daniel Thomas who writes for Computing Magazine , phishing scams increased 366% from July to December 2004.

Read the article here .

If you are reading this chances are that you are a parent. The very fact that you have visited this site demonstrates that you take your responsibility seriously and you want to protect your child(ren) from harm.

I too am a parent. My wife and I have three children -- two girls and a boy. Our oldest daughter is 27 and married with two children of her own. Daughter number two is 18 and attending college. Our son is 11 and in the fifth grade. For the last 27 years as parents we have gone through good times and bad but the one constant has been that we are always there for our kids. I've been the B of D (Bank of Dad) for all of them. Even when we couldn't afford it we have given all to the kids to guide them on their way to being responsible, respectful adults. There is no power on Earth which could have prevent us from helping them when they needed it or if they asked for help. I am sure you are no different.

Try to imagine a world where it became illegal to step in and help your child. It isn't very hard to do. That world is upon us this very day. Aside from every other issue regarding the shameful (yes that is a word in modern English) treatment of Terri Schindler-Shiavo, what hits home for me is that her parents have been prevented from exercising the most basic human responsibility -- caring for their child. Not only that, these parents are being forced to stand back and watch as their precious daughter is murdered in slow motion by the state.

I am older than most of you reading this and my education took place in a very different world than what you may have experienced. I was in the fifth grade when I learned what the word euthanasia meant. That was a world where there was no "right-to-die" mantra -- it had yet to be invented. I remember vividly when my teacher told us about it. The entire class was dumbfounded that such a concept had its own word. We all were saying that nobody would ever do something like that. At that time, our observation was true. The very idea of euthanasia was anathema to our culture. The reason I remember this episode so vividly is because of what our teacher said that day. She said that in our lifetime euthanasia would become accepted unless we stood up and resisted it. The responsibility was ours. That was a very profound statement to an 11 year old, indeed, it is a very profound statement to an adult living today.

The point of this post is not to pile accusations and curses on those who consider state mandated murder appropriate. The point is to remind all of you parents, grand parents, aunts, uncles and future parents that the responsibility for the children and the helpless around us is still ours. Wake up. Take the little extra time to delve below the ten second sound bytes. As the quote you see above this post states: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Some good starting points for digging are here , here and here .

The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a new report citing some statistics about the level of internet filtering for teens aged 12 - 17. The report states that 54% of internet connected families use some sort of internet filtering or monitoring software. The report also states that parents who are frequent users of the internet themselves are more likely to use filters.

Read the report here .

Dating service spammer argues that University of Texas had no right to block spam messages directed at UT students and faculty. Sheesh!

Read the article here .

Actually, anti-spam groups such as Spamhaus have claimed all along that the Can-Spam Act could end up legalizing spam. Critics of the act have called it the "YOU-CAN-SPAM" Act.

Read this excellent article here .

According to Nielsen/NetRatings over 200 million Americans have regular access to internet connections.

Read the March 23, 2004 article here .

A survey by Bigfoot Interactive shows that there has been some progress on the anti-spam front. The survey shows that 57% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that the volume of spam they have received has gone down over the last year. There is, however, a dark cloud associated with this silver lining. A whopping 82% said that they were concerned about spyware.

Read the article here .

Read the article here .

A new infestation of malicious emails containing trojan horse attachments has spread across the internet over the last few weeks. The attachments are mostly .ZIP files which contain the "Trojan BagleDl-L" worm. This malware infection takes over the target computer and disables security software such as anti-virus and firewall applications running on the computer.

Read the article here .

Unless you are expecting an attachment, even if it seems to be from someone you know, be very careful about opening it. These worms also email themselves to everyone in the infected computers address book making it appear they are messages from friends and family.