CDA

[Jon Lebkowsky]

At 08:04 PM 6/26/97 -0700, Burt, David wrote:
>Jon Lebkowsky wrote:
>
>>>Ronnie Morgan wrote:
>
>>>The question is now, if there is a form of the CDA that passes all
>legal
>>>tests, will the library have to abide by it, even if the CDA says that
>>>anyone under the age of 18 should not have access to porn?  From the
>way
>>>some of you talk, you sound as if you'd still protest it.
>
>>Ronnnie, I believe you'll find that some librarians support free
>speech.
>
>Jon,
>
>It's precisely this type of crude ad hominum that has so thoroughly
>poisoned the wells in the filtering debate.  A librarian could certainly
>want to protect children from pornography and still "believe in free
>speech".  As a non-librarian, you should understand that "being against
>free speech" is a pretty serious charge in our profession, akin to
>saying a policeman doesn't care about enforcing the law.
>
>Far to often filtering opponents wrap themselves in the first amendment
>and the ALA bill of rights, and portray anyone who disagrees with them
>as one of the evil censors, a collaborator, or a dupe of the fiendish
>censorware corporate baddies, who have a hidden agenda to oppress the
>masses.  These zealots also fail to see the irony of defending free
>speech by using such tactics which are clearly meant to silence the
>opposition.
>
>If you want to argue the ethical, technical, legal, or theoretical
>issues around filtering in libraries, fine.  But please, lay off the
>character assassination.

David, for several weeks now I've heard you and Ronnie argue strongly (on
the FILT4LIB list) in favor of the the implementation of filtering software
without particular regard for what was filtered. Ronnie also argued that
librarians should select which materials are appropriate for patrons
outside the issue of pornography/obscenity (his example: a librarian's
obligation to exclude books claiming that the earth is flat).

The fact that you're dismissive of the first amendment and the library bill
of rights may not make you an "evil censor, collaborator, dupe" or whatever
label you choose to toss into the fray, but you're certainly not supportive
of a citizen's right to expect unfiltered information from a library.

As for this supposed character assassination, if you or Ronnie would prefer
to be characterized as supportive of free speech, then I suggest that you
support free speech. I never heard you say once in your many messages to
FILT4LIB that you are a free speech advocate...this would be news to me.



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Jon Lebkowsky     *     jonl at onr.com     *     www.well.com/~jonl
President, EFF-Austin
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