Sharon says:
> Secondly, the software is imperfect, and can filter outuseful
> information simply because it may contain a word that triggers the filter.
Thats for darn sure. A great site for anti-filtering veiwpoints & info is
peacefire.org. It has reveiws of filtering software, and what they block,
blocked site lists, etc, and (I believe) it is exclusively run by
teenagers. (Slogan: "It's not a crime to be smarter than your parents.")
Some of the examples of poor keyword filtering are really awful. I'm just
paraphrasing here, but the software in question was blocking things
like ONLY 18 ("there were only 18 survivors of the plane crash") and UNDER
13 ("the hostages taken were children, most of them under 13").
> Our library recently moved most of the computers
> to a position where the screens are all viewable by the main library
> desk, making it difficult for anyone to view pornographic material
> without being seen, and getting around the need for filtering.
This is an idea I've seen tossed around, but it makes me worry about those
who are accessing sensitive information. I can certainly understand the
desire for privacy. It is none of anyone's business if I am acessing pages
about gay rights, or sexual health concerns, or socially unacceptible
political material, or singles ads.
The prospect of having all of the
logs examined in a public library really bothers me. I would assume they
would require you to log on with your library card number or something, so
when they find unsavory content in the logs they know who was accessing
it. What would they do with this information? In a small town, this could
get very ugly. At least when it comes to physical library books, you
actually have to check them out before they have a record of it. You can
sit in the library all afternoon reading books on bombs and marxism and
gay rights, in a private little corner, with no one peeping over your
shoulder.
The worst of the suggestions I've heard is making all the computers
filtered access, and requiring adults to go to a library offical and
explain why they need the filtering software turned off. I believe
something to that effect was in the wording of the recent US bill, but I
am not sure. Ugh. Thank god I'm privledged enough to have internet access
at home.
--Alison
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Alison Kozic | Tell a man there are 300,000,000,000 stars
ICQ 97567379 | in the universe and he will believe you.
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