Internet censorship a non-issue?

[MRSCLIST]

> Has anyone considered that as a long-term issue  Internet censorship 
could
> be a non-issue?
> Before we get hot and bothered, perhaps we should consider if there is
> really a problem or just a perception of a problem.  No need to block
> a perception.

Sure, net-censorship is a real non-issue in the real world! But like most 
issues where common sense and understanding are shredded by politics, 
net-censorship really is a matter of public perception. It is a library 
directors' nightmare to have angry, confrontive individuals and groups 
taking an emotional issue, blowing it all out of proportion, and then 
facing the wrath of tax payers and government officials who are looking 
for a scapegoat of society's ills. The ethics of personal responsibility 
fall on deaf ears when people are afraid, and those persons screaming the 
loudest about pornography on the net are very, very frightened people. I 
don't take that fear lightly and, like many library administrators, do 
the best I can to address those fears without sacrificing that common 
sense and understanding which governs my personal ethos.
So while pornography on the net may be a non-issue, the fear behind it is 
not. And we have to take that fear very, very seriously.

Andrew Derby  
Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington
1200 5th Ave., Suite 1300
Seattle, WA 98101
206-625-1300   Fax  206-625-1220
http://www.mrsc.org