For some time, I have maintained a web site (http://www.tomkeane.com) that among other things, has copies of all of the articles I have written for the Beacon Hill Paper. If the Mayor of Boston has his way, patrons of the Boston Public Library will no longer be allowed to visit my web site.

Why? Several weeks ago a firestorm arose in Boston over children’s access to the Internet. Apparently children in some libraries were surfing the World Wide Web and going to sites containing explicit sexual materials, including graphic nudity. City councilors were outraged and vowed hearings on the subject. The Mayor, hoping to trump the council, announced that all Internet connections in the library and City Hall were to be shut down until special software (called “filters”) was installed that would prevent users of the Internet from accessing those sites.

Over the next few weeks somewhat cooler heads prevailed. Internet connections were not shut down, but the Boston Public Library nevertheless moved forward with plans to install one of those filters, a program called CyberPatrol. Bernard Margolis, the president of the BPL, found himself in the uncomfortable position of censoring information, something the American Library Association deplores. Margolis eventually announced a compromise, agreeing to install the filters in computers in areas of the library that were accessible to children, but leaving the filters off machines in adult-only sections of the library.

CyberPatrol works by blocking sites that contain subject matter in a variety of categories, including (to quote CyberPatrol): “violence/profanity, partial nudity, nudity, sexual acts/text, gross depictions, racism/ethnic impropriety (there goes Howard Stern...), satanic cult, drugs/drug culture, militant/extremist, gambling (sorry, Joe Malone ...), questionable/illegal, alcohol, beer & wine.” If a particular web site has words that fall into these categories, it’s blocked.

Try to visit a sexually-oriented site (say, for example http://www.playboy.com), using CyberPatrol. The electronic filter prevents a computer user from accessing the site altogether, even if you’re only going there to read the articles. How about Planned Parenthood’s web site? It turns out that CyberPatrol bars that as well. It also blocks the Jewish Bulletin, The Village Voice, and Mother Jones magazine, as well as sites such as the home page of the City of Hiroshima, any feminist, gay or sex education discussion groups, and, of course, my web site. This article is to blame.

It’s not only the overarching reach of the library’s restrictions that’s disturbing. There is also a double standard at play. Take for example, the work of photographer Herb Ritts. Ritts just had a well-publicized exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts. Indeed, the city government helped promote the exhibit, making space available for banners on street poles that advertised it. Ritts’ books are also available at the BPL, in the photography section. No one proposed restricting those under age 18 from the Museum, nor are children restricted from checking out Ritts’ books. Ritts’ web site, however, is restricted because, like the MFA exhibit and the books in the library, it contains many nude and erotic images. Indeed, the MFA’s site itself may be restricted, because it has links to Herb Ritts’ home page. The same could be true of sites showing Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, Edward Weston and even classic masters like Renoir.

Politicians love to grab headlines by finding something outrageous and proposing the government ban it. That’s what happened in this case. Bernard Margolis, much to his credit, tried to water down the restrictions. He worked to preserve free access in adult-only areas of the library and has fought to limit CyberPatrol’s reach so that material from all categories will not automatically be blocked. Still, much that is plainly good will no longer be available. And in many of the branch libraries there are no adults-only sections, meaning that adults will now be limited to seeing something that is acceptable to five-year olds.

It all hearkens back to the days of Mayor Curley’s, “Banned in Boston.” Mayor Menino and Bernard Margolis are nice men, but their comfort, or lack of comfort, with what is sexual, risqué or controversial should apply only to them, not to me.