CyberNotsies, was Banned in Boston

[CMUNSON]

Before we get to smug about the demise of the CDA (which I hope happens), 
we should beware of back door censorship strategies by those who support 
the CDA. If the CDA is overturned will CyberPatrol come off the computers 
in the Boston Public Libraries? I think not, if I read current and historic 
trends correctly.

The arguments against the CDA involve this contention that there are 
existing mechanisms, like censorship software, that will control access by 
minors. This can turn out to be a pro-censorship position. Looking ahead 
six months to a time when the CDA is overturned we'll probably see more 
calls by citizen groups, politicians, and other to install filtering 
products in public locations like libraries. If this isn't resisted we will 
see widespread censorship happen in our libraries. It won't just be porn 
sites that will be banned. One only needs to look at the rise of Nazi 
Germany to see how the slippery slope towards widespread censorship will 
happen.

First will be calls to ban porn sites. Next will be the Klan and Nazi 
sites. After that, sites that contain erotica or profanity will be screened 
out. After that sites with non-mainstream viewpoints will get filtered. 
Where do we draw the line? We have to advocate freedom of speech for those 
with ideas we hate, if not, nobody will be able to talk.

Am I indulging in a rhetorical exercise here? No, I can cite examples of 
sites that are being screened by CyberPatrol that aren't pornographic, but 
may contain profanity or alternative views. If CyberPatrol is installed on 
an Internet computer in a Boston library and all the filters are turned on, 
I won't be able to go to the Spunk Archive 
<http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.html>. Spunk is 
an online archive of over 1500 texts and images, which was founded about 
the same time at Project Gutenburg. Yes, I have a personal stake in this 
because I co-founded Spunk and continue to volunteer my library skills for 
them. But that is beside the point. If I then proceed to enter Spunk's new 
URL, http://www.spunk.org/, I'll get there. CyberPatrol bans the old URL 
but not the new one. Why is the original screened out? (Of course, if folks 
from CyberPatrol monitor this list, we can count on the new URL being 
blocked).

I've raised this issue with friends who run other web sites. They've 
checked to see if their sites are blocked and some of them are discovering 
that they've been "banned in Boston." For understandable reasons, they are 
pissed. They've resolved to do something about this. So what are librarians 
going to do?

What I fear is that if this hysteria over Internet porn in libraries 
continues we'll see the installation of censorware products on thousands of 
library computers across this country. In a short time, thousands of 
interesting sites will "disappear." Spunk will no longer be able to answer 
the reference questions we get from students, teachers, and professors.

Does anybody know what ALA or the other library asociations intend to do 
about incidents like what has happened in Boston and Florida? Should we 
cancel future conventions in Boston if it leaves CyberPatrol in place?

Where do you want to go to today indeed.

Chuck Munson
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/1672/