Pornography on Dallas library computers

The Dallas Morning News published a report on January 15, 2008 claiming that 7.5 percent of the web pages viewed on the computers in the Dallas central library were pornographic. This statement was based on the review of a 45-minute period on Dec. 19, during which "...central library computer users accessed more than 5,200 Web pages containing identifiably pornographic material, such as photographs depicting full nudity, intercourse and other sex acts." City officials responded that installing pornography-filtering software on library computers "...is probably warranted."

Older, more thorough studies suggest that the 7.5 percent figure may be a little high. In 2000, David Burt, a filtering advocate, estimated that between 0.5 and 2.5 percent of web pages viewed in libraries were pornographic. In 1999, a study by the Chicago Public Library claimed that less than 5% of the Internet sites viewed on their computers were pornographic.