Policing Porn Not Part of the Job Description

[MountainLaurel]

Glad to know that county-level Homeland Security people are trying to keep library patrons safe from the scourge of nekkid people. :eyes:


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.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021602066.html

[Strawman]

1. Tell these officers the Taliban is hiring

Sounds like they'd fit right in.

[benburch]

2. Previous discussion of this story.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x191298

K&R both copies, please!

[Canuckistanian]

5. Thanks, never noticed it before. n/t

[MountainLaurel]

6. Thanks Ben!

I hadn't imbibed enough caffeine this morning to think to check for other posts.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. County homeland security.

IOW, a couple of yahoos pretending to be federal officers for the rush it gives them.

Fucking brownshirts.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Self-appointed porn Gestapo?

Where did these guys come from? Did they just take their own initiative or were they "encouraged" in some way?

Could just be a case of a few individuals gone power-mad.

[MrPrax]

7. Can you post in GD or LBN?

This is really creepy and should be posted in a couple of forums IMHO

I only read the post because I usually hang in the lobby--I don't usually peruse this forum...

Just a thought...

Oh yeah--people shouldn't be looking at pr0n in public anyway; BUT I think the librarians can handle the jerks...THIS is off the radar.

Utterly amazing really that these DHS types have such a fascistic quaintness about their naivete--protecting freedom by doing away with it.

[MountainLaurel]

8. Check benburch's post above

It's posted in Editorials and Other Articles. I also noticed that someone had tried posting it in GD, but the thread was closed as a dupe.

As for viewing porn in public, keep in mind that definitions of pornographic vary widely from person to person. I'm a librarian, and there are all sorts of weirdos: People who would scream if they noticed someone else viewing a breastfeeding Web site that showed a baby nursing, who think that Michaelangelo's "David" is indecent, who consider anything involving homosexuals to be pornographic.

[Untermonkey]

9. Somebody needs to supply these goons with a copy of the First Amendment

Looks like they haven't read that part.