Porn filters a must, says OPP boss
By Lisa Rutledge, Times Staff
News
Sep 25, 2009

Government legislation shouldn’t be necessary to prompt public libraries to install computer software to prevent downloading of porn, says OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino. It should just be automatic.

“These are things that are just common sense,” he told the Times in an interview following a speech Wednesday to about 75 members of the Kiwanis Club of Cambridge. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

Fantino’s talk emphasized a greater need to protect children from Internet predators who use the online world like a playground to lure children for sex. He insists society must protect children from harms of pornography.

Cambridge MPP Gerry Martiniuk introduced a private members’ bill last week calling for legislation making Internet filters at public libraries. Cambridge’s libraries don’t currently use filters as the library’s board maintains filters aren’t sophisticated enough to prevent legitimate sites from being blocked.

Fantino, whose speech called for the balance of rights and freedoms to swing in favour of protecting victims, said legislation shouldn’t be required.

“We are all responsible for the well-being of our children,” he said. “Besides, it makes no sense. These are places where the learning is supposed to be happening.”

In his address Wednesday night at the Cambridge Golf and Country Club, the commissioner was clear about his mission to fight for tougher penalties for drugs, gangs and gun crime. When asked his views about the Young Offenders Act, Fantino went as far as to say there have been three revisions and: “We still haven’t got it right.”

However, he asked the larger question about whether true justice comes from treating the symptoms by punishment alone or rather by addressing roots of crime. He said prevention starts with early intervention with youths who are growing up desensitization to violence.

Fantino blamed video games that award points for killing and blowing things up and a failure when it comes to “deprogramming” youths exposed to violence.

“There’s a lack of appreciation for the sanctity of life.”

He said families, communities and even police officers, need to plug in to youth and add more meaning to their lives.

The same is true for society’s attitude to pornography, he argued. The commissioner said it’s too easy to disconnect materials depicting child porn from the cries of its victims, some just babies.

“We seem to be only talking about the photograph,” he said. “These are real children, these are real vicious crimes.”

The fight against child pornography has grown more difficult thanks to the Internet, Fantino noted.

“It would be something that could be intercepted at the border. The Internet has no borders. The Internet has become a pedophile’s best friend.”

Angered by stories about those who harm innocent children, Fantino cited recent cases including the murder of Tori Stafford in his mission to take a tougher stance on crime.