These were part of a recent issue of the Educause listserv. Big Brother's
next stop may be school libraries.
Ellen Nosal. MLS
East Hampton High School
East Hampton, CT
enosal@msn.com
SOME LIBRARIES OPT FOR NO FILTERS, NO FEDERAL FUNDING
Many San Francisco Bay Area libraries remain opposed to installing
Internet filters, despite Monday's Supreme Court ruling that ties some
federal funding to installing filters. Some librarians questions the
efficacy of filters, noting that often they do not successfully block
X-rated content but can block access to age-appropriate medical and
sexual information. The portion of funding that some libraries receive
from the federal government is relatively small, and many libraries
wish to avoid the cost and hassle of installing filters and to continue
to offer patrons access to all information. Susan Gallinger, director
of the Livermore Public Library, said, "We just don't feel we as
librarians need to be in the position of telling people what they
should read, see, or hear." Bay Area libraries are pursuing different
approaches to protecting children from inappropriate content, from
installing filters that block pornographic Web sites in the children's
reading section but not in the adult area to issuing "smart cards" to
children with Internet access authorized by their parents.
San Jose Mercury News, 24 June 2003
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/6158188.htm
FILTER REQUIREMENT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT BLOCKED-SITE LISTS
Now that public libraries must install Internet filters or risk losing
federal funds, companies that make filters may be forced to soften
their position of not revealing what sites they block, according to
Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's (ALA)
Office for Intellectual Freedom. Krug said the ALA will encourage its
members to choose only those filters whose makers agree to disclose
their lists of blocked sites. Net Nanny, which does allow users to view
and update its list of blocked sites, hopes to take advantage of the
situation Krug described and have its software installed in many
libraries. David Burt of N2H2, which keeps its list secret, said his
company has invested millions of dollars in developing its list and
believes keeping it private will not be a consideration for libraries
newly installing filters. Of the institutions that have already
installed N2H2 filters, Burt said, none has requested to see the list.
Wall Street Journal, 24 June 2003 (sub. req'd)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB105649238011074300,00.html
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