Boston situation

[Earl Young]

     I generally support appropriate "blocking" software on internet 
     terminals paid for with tax money, but I also believe its presence 
     should be prominently announced.  Politicians in general can be 
     expected to go from "generally considered offensive" material to 
     "let's block what we don't like" - and disclosure of both the presence 
     of the software and the algorithms it uses should be a requirement.
     
     Earl Young


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Boston situation
Author:  lchampel at monroe.lib.in.us at INTERNET
Date:    2/27/97 8:40 PM


     
On Wed, 26 Feb 1997, CMUNSON wrote:
     
[snip]
>      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.
     
I find it equally disturbing that libraries have voluntarily installed 
blocking software and not informed their patrons that the software is in 
place or explained what it does.
     
At least the patrons of BPL who pay attention to community issues 
will be aware of their library's (pending) use of this software and 
had an opportunity to express their opinions it.
     
I would be interested in hearing about this from public libraries in 
particular that have chosen to use blocking software.
Does your Computer/Internet Use Policy state that the library uses 
blocking software? Do you have signs posted on terminals where blocking 
software is installed clearly indicating that it restricts access to 
Internet resources. If yes - what does it say? / If not - why not?
     
[snip]
>      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
     
     
Many thanks to librarians and otherwise who have so eloquently
explained why blocking software is not the way to go. I believe a better 
use of time and money would be spent in helping educate patrons about the 
nature of the Internet and how to locate and evaluate resources they 
choose to access.
     
     
-- Lisa Champelli
     
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Children's Librarian - lchampel at monroe.lib.in.us 
Monroe County Public Library - http://www.monroe.lib.in.us
Internet Advocate - http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/~lchampel/netadv.html