Filtering News Stories Archive

[Shirl Kennedy]

Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 10:07:30 -0800
From: Adam Sherk <adams at mmgco.com>

CONTACT:
Jamie McCarthy
jamie at mccarthy.org
(616) 375-7528 fax: (616) 375-7521

Blacklisted by Cyber Patrol

December 22, 1997 - The Censorware Project, a newly formed
organization founded by net activists and writers, today announced
the release of its report, "Blacklisted by Cyber Patrol: From Ada
to Yoyo."  <http://www.spectacle.org/cwp/>

The report takes a close look at over 100 sites blocked by the
highly-regarded web filtering software from MicroSystems (a
subsidiary of The Learning Company).

Previous reports about the accuracy of Cyber Patrol have brought
to light some blocks of sites which can be called inappropriate at
best. "From Ada to Yoyo" presents many more bad blocks, but the
report also takes an in-depth look at special topics: the blocking
of internet service providers; of gay sites, including a
neighborhood with over 20,000 users; of newsgroups; and the
subject of whether such a product is appropriate to censor what
adults may see in public libraries.

"I was stunned by some of the sites which were blocked," said
Jamie McCarthy, a Michigan-based software developer who is a
founder of the Censorware Project and author of the report. "Some
of the errors at least made sense: there were pages which could be
mistaken for explicit material, even though they were not.

"But some were bizarre. The town of Ada, Michigan is just an
hour's drive from my house: it has a website about local politics,
which is blocked as containing full frontal nudity and sexual acts. It's
baffling."

"We have only scratched the surface in this report of the problems
with CyberPatrol," said James S. Tyre, a free speech attorney in
Pasadena, California. "Products as riddled with flaws as
CyberPatrol have no business in public libraries, which are arms
of the government. Libraries exist to promote knowledge and
ideas, but CyberPatrol's bad blocks and reblocks of sites it said
would be unblocked demonstrate vividly that its agenda is not to
promote the free flow of ideas."

The Censorware Project's mission is to call public attention to
the flaws of blocking software and its inappropriateness in public
institutions such as libraries. For more information, please
contact Jamie McCarthy at jamie at mccarthy.org.