Boston situation

[CMUNSON]

Author:  Ari Herzog <ari at ici.net> at Internet
Date:    2/25/97 6:18 AM

Ari Herzog wrote:
What do members of this group feel about the Boston Public Library situation?
     
For those not in the know, Mayor Menino has issued a statement for 
CyberPatrol to be installed on all BPL libraries, which comes as a result of 
some children viewing online pornography.
     
     
     I find this to be very disturbing, but not surprising. I hold the 
     position, which some may find extreme, that people, of all ages, have 
     the right to surf wherever the hell they want to go. I think there is 
     a place for porn in libraries, although it may bring up sexual 
     harassment problems because of a few idiots (the ones doing the 
     harassing). I have sympathies for those of you in these trenches, 
     because it is so easy for the narrow-minded to create hsyteria over 
     "porn in the libraries."
     
     The disturbing thing about this is the call to put censorware on the 
     library computers. In this case we have an ignorant politician calling 
     for the censorware solution, which is easier to understand than 
     libraries who have VOLUNTARILY put this crap on their computers.
     
     The problem with censorware like CyberPatrol, CyberSitter, 
     NetGuardian, and their ilk is that they go beyond just blocking porn 
     sites. They make it easy to install a program which blocks access to a 
     broad range of sites, including those with drug information, 
     alternative sexuality, and non-mainstream political views. I've 
     checked one of these products by selecting the option to block all 
     categories that it censored and voila, found that web sites run by 
     myself and friends were "blocked." Now I could argue that my popular 
     radical political web site shoudn't be lumped in with Nazi sites, but 
     I think that blocking all of these sites is bad idea in a free 
     society. How do we expect kids to develop critical thinking skills if 
     we don't allow them to learn about the full spectrum of political 
     thought? Today Nazi sites, tomorrow gay and lesbian sites, and next 
     week Mark Twain sites. Where will this stop? Who has the right to 
     decide these things? Not me and not Mayor Menino.
     
     I think that librarians need to fight for unrestricted access to the 
     web. This is a fight that we cannot afford to lose.
     
     Chuck Munson