[WEB4LIB] Re: Blocking web-based chat

[Christopher Jackson]

Like Dan, this will be my last post to the list on this topic.

On Wed, 24 Nov 1999, Dan Lester wrote:

>  But don't expect many 
> people to get all excited about your definition.  I've yet to hear of the 
> ACLU fighting in court for the right to "yell 'fire' in a crowded theater."

Right.  The ACLU recognizes that certain acts of censorship are necessary
and acceptable.

It's worth discussing this because we shouldn't turn a blind eye to what's
happening.  The less honorable censors--e.g., school boards banning Judy
Blume, libraries using indiscriminate web filters on all PC's--also claim
that they are not censoring.  They are "following the curriculum" or
"respecting the community's values" or "performing selection decisions" or
"allocating scarce resources."  They all say, "What we're doing is not
censorship."

The mindset is, "Censorship is bad, and since we have good intentions, we
must not be censors."  Far better to accept that limitations on speech are
all censorship, and to examine each individually to see if it can
nonetheless be justified.

I don't know your library, but I can certainly accept libraries with
limited PC's enforcing a "No chat, no email" policy.  Just please don't
couch it in terms of "resource allocation not speech limitation" when
actually it is both.  Otherwise you lend weight to others with less
respectable motives who also claim "We're not censoring."

    Christopher Jackson                    cjackson at monroe.lib.in.us	
    Reference/Automation Librarian         voice: (812) 876-1272
    Monroe County Public Library           fax: (812) 876-2515
    Ellettsville, IN  47429                http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/