Selection

[Bill Drew]

Jon Lebkowsky wrote:

> At 07:35 AM 7/7/97 -0700, Ronnie Morgan wrote:
>
> >And the point I'm trying to make by bringing this out, everyone keeps
>
> >saying that NOTHING can be done about it, you say that you agree that
> kids
> >should not have access to porn but since the technology isn't there
> to keep
> >them out, you shouldn't filter.  But as I have been trying to say,
> the
> >technology **IS** there, we just have to come up with something that
> is
> >acceptable on both sides of the issue, and the suggestion above is an
>
> >example of someone not believeing this "technology isn't there" junk.
>
> Ronnie, I don't know that anyone ask argued that 'nothing can be
> done.'
> E.g. we at EFF-Austin espouse parental education and involvement.

The technology doesn't work!!!  That is obvious from looking at Karen
Schneider's site that is testing filtering products.

>
>
> Technologies are necessarily broad...but if you got the porn sites to
> label
> themselves .xxx and got a consensus to filter those sites, you
> wouldn't
> hear much of an argument from me.  But you won't be blocking all the
> stuff
> you find offensive, and parental involvement will remain an issue.

Parental involvement must be there.  Librarians  are not thought police
and cannot (nor should they be required to)
monitor every minor using a computer.  Parents must take responsibility
for their own children.

>
>
> >Also, the post about ALA and it's stand on filters is irrelevant (at
> least
> >to this debate) since it can't be argued that children have the
> "right" to
> >porn.  And, since adults can/should ask to have the filter program
> turned
> >off, no one is losing thier "Constitutionally protected speech".
>
> Whatever.

ALA's stand is at the core of this whole issue.  Alos, why should an
adult have to ask to have a filter turned off?
Would we expect a user in a wheel chair to be let into the library? No,
we provide ramps and such to make them more independent of us.  No one
is arguing that children have the "right to porn".  The whole problem is
that filtering does not work.  It excludes too much material that is NOT
pornographic.

> Jon Lebkowsky // jonl at onr.com
>
> "The interest in encouraging freedom of expression in a democratic
> society
> outweighs any theoretical but unproven benefit of censorship." --
> Justice
> Stevens, Supreme Court Opinion in Reno v ACLU.



--
Wilfred Drew (Call me "Bill"); Associate Librarian (Systems, Reference)
SUNY College of Ag. & Tech.;   P.O. Box 902;  Morrisville, NY 13408-0902

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