Lawyer nixes filters

[Nick Arnett]

At 10:22 AM 4/11/97 -0700, Burt, David wrote:

>I'm no lawyer, but I don't understand how if a library knew about an
>undesirable situation in their library, and made a reasonable,
>good-faith effort to stop it that fell short, that this would actually
>increase their liability, as opposed to doing nothing.

Prodigy found itself in exactly this situation a few years ago.  They
decided to filter all the "bad" words, libelous material and such out of
their discussion groups.  When some harmful stuff slipped through --
something libelous, I believe -- they wound up in court, where the judge
essentially said that since they had accepted the responsibility, they also
accepted the liability.  The judge said that if you want the legal
protections of a common carrier, you have to behave like a common carrier --
don't editorialize.

IMO, Libraries should resist the temptation to be common carriers or
filterers of information.  They should be organizers of information.
Organizing is the half-full view of the cup that is half-empty to the
filterer.  hatever hasn't been cataloged shouldn't be included in the
library, physically or virtually, no matter how easy it might be to provide
that access.  Knowledge is sold by weight, not volume.

Turning on unlimited Internet access is like buying books by the pound.

Nick

---------------------------------------
Verity Inc. -- Connecting People with Information

Product Manager, Categorization and Visualization
408-542-2164; fax 408-541-1600; home office 408-733-7613
http://www.verity.com/

Verity Inc.
894 Ross Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089