LIBRARIES SHOULD LIMIT NET

He found a lack of limits on Internet access at the public library here, and Republican presidential hopeful John McCain says that's a big reason why school and library computers should be required to block sexually-explicit Web sites.

"I'm very disturbed that a public library receiving public funds is providing children with unlimited, unfettered access to pornographic material on the Internet," McCain told the Washington Post Wednesday. The paper says he learned of the situation while visiting the library the day before.

Librarian Phillip Ritter tells the paper the parents and not the library are responsible for monitoring their children's activity, but McCain says that argument is absurd. "(M)ost parents," he tells the Post, "are not able to supervise their children outside the home and rely on the sound judgment of others." But Ritter says the library plans to buy equipment to make it harder for children to get into objectionable Web sites.

The Post says the library's legal dilemna is, its current policy was taken up because trustees feared a free speech lawsuit, but they also fear a suit if parents think their children are emotionally damaged by exposure to Web porn.

McCain, a U.S. Senator from Arizona, has proposed legislation requiring schools and libraries to buy blocking software. American Civil Liberties Union officials, says the Post, say libraries could use state obscenity laws to prosecute those who misuse their computers.