Why disable access to software features?

[Walter Lewis]

On Fri, 3 Nov 1995, Thomas Dowling wrote:
> Yes, I would.  And in the absence of a clear policy related to your library's  
> mission, I have to wonder how you would justify barring it (assuming you could  
> do it).
> 
> Don't pretend that disabling a Goto command will prevent users from getting to  
> any given site.  In fact, some institutions are providing a kludgy Goto form  
> just to support users who have to use a kiosk mode workstation.
> 
> I'm uncomfortable with the way this argument conflates restricted workstation  
> access with restricted net access.  I think the nature of publicly available  
> workstations demands that the people supporting them put forth their best  
> effort to head off deliberate or unintentional mischief.  At the same time, I  
> expect better of the library profession than to use this as an excuse to try  
> restricting access to any network site.  Obviously, some librarians have an  
> institutional mandate to try to impose such restrictions; those efforts should  
> be a result of that mandate rather than an side effect of workstation security.

As the one who contributed the list of features I would like control over 
in a kiosk environment, just let me comment briefly...

First, it remains my strong preference that the site administrator be in 
a position to *toggle* these software settings.  The toggle need to be in 
a setting that the user can't interfere will (as most of us have said, 
with a variety of useful suggestions as to how)

Second, I may have made the mistake of conflating (in that particular 
line) control over Open Local Files and Open anywhere on the 'net.  I 
seriously prefer a setting where we kiosk users aren't rooting around the 
local OS files, even in read-only mode.  I also respect the fact that 
*some* institutional settings are obligated to try to control (which if 
nothing else, said he, may be a better legal/moral defence in certain unpleasant 
situations--quoting the local school librarians).  Moreover, in a kiosk 
environment of one type that we are looking to develop locally, the 
purpose is to make it standalone (i.e. not Internet), but we still need 
to drop in files using network tools.  The purpose of this particular 
kiosk has *nothing* to do with Internet access, but the software happens 
to be one with which a sharply increasing numbers of users are familiar, 
and the price is right.  

Did I promise to be brief?

One last twist:  if you have hacked a version of Netscape (snip, snip) is 
it legal to share the emasculated version to those who would otherwise 
not be charged for its use?  

Walter Lewis		  		     walter.lewis at sheridanc.on.ca
Deputy Chief Librarian/Systems
Halton Hills Public Library, Georgetown, ON Canada L7G 2A3 (905) 873-2681