Censorship absolutism: A contrarian position

[Burt, David]

Phil Meyer wrote:

>There are some good arguments for filtering, but the "blocking internet
>sites is the same thing as material selection" argument isn't one of them.

I beginning to think that my idea of hell is trying to find appropriate
analogies for the Internet.  If you read the questions the Supreme Court
Justices were asking (is the net like an obscene phone call, a lewd
public conversation, a print medium, a broadcast medium, etc.) it's
pretty clear that the Internet is a little like all these things, but
really is like nothing else.

With regards to blocking being selection vs. censorship, I really think
you could look at it either way.

It is somewhat like taking books off the shelf, in that you're removing
something patrons at some point had access to.

However, it's also somewhat like not selecting something, in that you're
choosing not to allow something to come in to your library.

I think it's probably somewhere in between.

I also think that in a situation where you have several competing
analogs, all of which are imperfect, the tendency is to be swayed by the
analog which reinforces what you already believe.  (Which of course, I'm
above :->)


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          David Burt, Information Technology Librarian 
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