Library Lawsuit

[Filtering Facts]

Jeff Bobicki wrote:
>Hi all !!
>
>I am not a Librarian but I do help support the technical needs of the
>Library community. One of the issues I have been tasked with is how to
>handle filtering from a technical perspective. To this end, I have
>performed extensive studies of available filter packages and included a
>filter package for  my Library Web Browser .... Librowse.
>
>While I firmly believe that Engineering should remain out of the
>philisophical / policy arena related to filtering, I just as firmly believe
>that Engineering should provide a tool for you to successfully implement
>such a policy if you wish to do so.
>
>There is the rub. My filter studies have plainly indicated that the
>technology that brings "this world of wonder" to your desk is simply NOT
>capable of providing the level of support to selectively "filter it".
>
>It really is pointless to argue about this because even if you do come to
>some conclusion about this issue,  Engineering can't do it sucessfully anyway.
>
>I just finished writing a magazine article on this very subject where I
>made the comment:
>
>One of the most important conclusions drawn from this study is simple.
>Until Engineering can provide a viable filter (and you wish to use it), you
>must allow internet access based upon trust. An agreement between the
>"filterer" and the "filteree" about what is objectionable and what is not
>is crucial. Perhaps loss of privilege if this trust is violated is the most
>successful deterent to "bad" behavior.
>
>You can not legislate something that cannot be done. Everybody loses.   
>

Well, I'm not sure how to address the claims you make, since you don't
define what a "workable" filter is, what level of accuracy you would
consider acceptable, or how you came to these conclusions.

I did a study of libraries using filters, and on average they reported 1.6
complaints per month about inappropriately blocked sites.  That's hardly
conclusive proof that filters work, but it does seem to indicate that they
ain't that bad, especially considering there is no evidence that filters in
the library setting significantly interfere with patron access to useful
information.

Filters are much more likely to fail in that they let in things they are
supposed to be blocking.  I've yet to see a filter I couldn't beat without
too much trouble.  But what software is 100% effective?  After all, we're
not talking about airbags and parachutes, it's an Internet application, for
Pete's sake.

I will say that I have found that when I press people who say "filters
cannot work", they almost always are deeply philosophically opposed to
filters in the first place, and it really doesn't matter to them how well
filters work/don't work.  Inevitably people who talk about breast cancer
sites being blocked  also talk about not acting in loco parentis and
children needing to learn to decide for themselves what's good and bad.

That's because the filtering controversy really isn't an engineering
problem, it's a moral one.  What really matters in the debate isn't so much
technical details, but values.  And you can't have a discussion about values
based on technical details.

*****************************************************************************
David Burt	President, Filtering Facts
Website: 	http://www.filteringfacts.org
E-Mail:  	David_Burt at filteringfacts.org
Phone/Fax:	503 635-7048