Here's the experience that shocked me: I took some time away from my regular wifi-filled cafes and decided I'd study at the local library instead.

Ahhh, peace and quiet. Too bad libraries struggle to remain open in this country, but that's another topic.

Then I look up and see a guy on the table across from mine.... checking all sorts of porn sites! Normal, you say? Get this: there was a 10 or 12-year old boy sitting right next top him doing his homework.

Oh, I was pissed and really wanted to come up to the guy and yell at him, but every time anyone got close to his table, he'd switch the screen to another site. Obviously, he knew he was doing something wrong, but still didn't care about the boy next to him.

So I brought this up to the attention of the librarian, hoping they could, at least, disable his machine... The story gets better: The Library does not monitor or control the content of the material accessed through the Internet and cannot be held responsible for its contents.
http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/sfplonline/internet.htm

Oh, it's frustrating. Any recommendations? From now on, I warn all my friends and family not to let their children be at the library on their own - it's not as safe as you'd think.

[Editor's note: That's tricky, to be sure. I believe there are state and federal laws that would allow you to call the police if you witnessed a minor being exposed to images that were deemed adult in nature. That overrides the library's policy. The librarian was being a wimp. She or he should have called security to investigate the situation. Or you could call the police's non-emergency line and say, there's a pervert in the library looking at porn next to minors. I can almost guarantee you a cop would be there in minutes.-gf]