Internet Censorship and Blocking Software -Reply

[KAREN SCHNEIDER]

Agree, Richard.  Not only does it not seem funny, but it is
sobering to realize that software is being used to perpetuate the
prejudicial notion that anything related to homosexuality is
inherently prurient.  It is even scarier because we don't KNOW
what they consider "inappropriate."  I brought this up a year? ago
on PUBLIB, when I pointed out that Blockbuster labeled a
lesbian movie as "adult" even though the sexual content was
much tamer than in the "straight" movies they offer.  This is what
happens when we let "them" make the decisions about what we
offer.  

Several people in librarianship are pulling together information
about filtering software.  I suggest you all look hard at these
packages and ask yourselves if you are ready to abdicate
decision-making for a convenient plug-and-play censorship
device.  I think filtering software is unavoidable--everyone likes
a quick fix, regardless of the price--but it is up to us to evaluate it,
point out the dangers of software that doesn't give us access to
and control over its denial lists, and make this info public.  This is
a flag we need to wave vigorously.

Karen G. Schneider/schneider.karen at epamail.epa.gov
Contractor, GCI/Director, US EPA Region 2 Library
http://www.epa.gov/Region2/library/

>>> "Richard J. Violette" <rviolett at socialaw.com> 03/07/97
10:25am >>>
Dear Webers,

My S.O. forwarded me an e-mail message, which I will
paraphrase:

A Medical Center recently installed an Internet kiosk in the
hospital
which was locked down (after the first hour someone
bookmarked the
Playboy web site) so that users can't get off the Medical Center's
web
site.  For further precautions, they installed a copy of SurfWatch. 
Shortly after installing the software, the entire Medical Center's
library's web site was blocked by SurfWatch. 

For several days, people tried to figure out what was causing it.
Finally everyone there suddenly hit on it: the name of the library
itself. It's the Archie R. Dykes Medical Library.  After several
frantic
calls to SurfWatch, the company finally admitted that their
software
excluded the use of 'dyke.' They're issuing an update filter
immediately
to all of their customers and an apology.

Although there is an element of humor here, the implications are
sobering.  Suppose, for example, someone is looking for a site
that
tells how to build your own addition to your house.  Will it be
blocked
if it mentions "studs"?  If the word "gay" is excluded, many texts
from
Project Gutenberg, for example, will be blocked, not to mention
such
innocuous sites as that of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of
Lesbians and
Gays).  Suppose the word "playboy" is blocked; then an English
lit.
syllabus in which one of the required readings is "The Playboy
of the
Western World" will be inaccessible.

Doesn't seem so funny anymore, does it?

/s/ Rich.V.

-- 
Richard J. Violette    | 1200 Court House           | "He chose to be
Catalog Librarian I    | Boston MA 02108            | rich, by making
Social Law Library     | Vox: (617) 523-0018, x318  | his wants few."
rviolett at socialaw.com  | Fax: (617) 523-2458        |       --Emerson