Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: USA. Verso la "polizia morale"?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021602
066.html?referrer=emailarticle
Policing Porn Is Not Part of Job Description
Montgomery Homeland Security Officers Reassigned After Library
Incident
By Cameron W. Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 17, 2006; Page B08
Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls
library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of
all patrons using the computers.
Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography
was forbidden.
The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words
"Homeland Security."
The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9, leaving some residents confused and
forcing county officials to explain how employees assigned to protect
county buildings against terrorists came to see it as their job to
police the viewing of pornography.
After the two men made their announcement, one of them challenged an
Internet user's choice of viewing material and asked him to step
outside, according to a witness.
A librarian intervened, and the two men went into the library's work
area to discuss the matter.
A police officer arrived.
In the end, no one had to step outside except the uniformed men.
They were officers of the security division of Montgomery County's
Homeland Security Department, an unarmed force that patrols about 300
county buildings -- but is not responsible for enforcing obscenity
laws.
In the post-9/11 era, even suburban counties have homeland security
departments.
Montgomery County will not specify how many officers are in the
department's security division, citing security reasons.
Its annual budget, including salaries, is $3.6 million.
Later that afternoon, Montgomery County's chief administrative
officer, Bruce Romer, issued a statement calling the incident
"unfortunate" and "regrettable" -- two words that bureaucrats often
deploy when things have gone awry.
He said the officers had been reassigned to other duties.
Romer said the officers believed they were enforcing the county's
sexual harassment policy but "overstepped their authority" and had to
be reminded that Montgomery "supports the rights of patrons to view
the materials of their choice."
The sexual harassment policy forbids the "display of offensive or
obscene printed or visual material."
But in a library, which is both a public arena and a county workplace,
the U.S. Constitution trumps Montgomery's rules.
At most public libraries in the Washington area, an adult can view
pornography on a library computer more or less unfettered. Montgomery
asks customers to be considerate of others when viewing Web sites.
If others are put off, librarians will provide the viewer of the
offending material with a "privacy screen."
Fairfax County forbids library use of the Internet to view child
pornography or obscene materials or to engage in gambling or fraud.
But Fairfax library spokeswoman Lois Kirkpatrick said, "Librarians are
not legally empowered to determine obscenity."
D.C. library spokeswoman Monica Lewis said the system is working on
guidelines for Internet use, but she added that recessed computer
screens generally ensure patrons their privacy.
Although many library systems in the United States use filtering
software, the D.C. and Fairfax systems do not, and Montgomery uses
such software only on computers available to children.
Leslie Burger, president-elect of the American Library Association,
said the reality is that "libraries are not the hotbed of looking at
porn sites."
Still, Montgomery plans to train its homeland security officers "so
they fully understand library policy and its consistency with
residents' First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution," Romer
said in his statement.

 066.html?referrer=emailarticle
Vorrei vedere in una biblioteca comunale italiana come regirebbe il 
bibilotecario se uno si mettesse a guardare pornografia...
Am.

 bibilotecario se uno si mettesse a guardare pornografia...
Vorrei vedere, perň - e NON potrei - un "poliziotto" (tale a qualunque
titolo) italiano che facesse richieste analoghe a quelle avanzate dai suoi
bizzarri colleghi statunitensi... Abbiamo, forse, bibliotecari pegfgiori, ma
certamente poliziotti migliori.
Namib

 bibilotecario se uno si mettesse a guardare pornografia...
E che c'entra? Vorrei vedere le risate se un paio di agenti della
Direzione Investigativa Antimafia arrivassero alla biblioteca comunale
di Foggia a dire ad uno di smettere di andare su stantuffami.com...
-- 
There's always a way - and it's usually mined

 Direzione Investigativa Antimafia 
La DIA? Non esageriamo, eh, quelli erano funzionari disarmati di un 
dipartimento locale. Vigili urbani.
Palmiro Pangloss
-- 
Q. Taig or Prod? A. Atheist. Q Aye, Taig or Prod atheist?

 Palmiro Pangloss
Gia'. Per rispondere a MastroLindo in Italia un intervento esterno non 
si porrebbe, perche' gia' all'interno il  bibliotecario (cattolico?) 
imporrebbe di cambiare indirizzo o andarsene.
Del resto a volte evitare i siti non di studio  fa parte del regolamento.
Cosa che non puo' fare il bibliotecario americano che deve rispettare 
l'x emendamento.
Am.

 dipartimento locale. Vigili urbani.
Vigili urbani dell'homeland security?
Non avevo notato il particolare, che mi pare pure peggio che avere una
forza di polizia che vigila sulla navigazione porno...
-- 
"What! what! men, dodging this way for single bullets! What will you
do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you.
They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..."
Gen. John Sedgwick's last words, battle of Spotsylvania

 forza di polizia che vigila sulla navigazione porno...
Quella c'e' anche in Italia: la Polizia Postale.
