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ACLU And Others Weigh In On CIPA Injunction
A report on censorware.net has an update on the legal fight over the Children's Internet Protection Act; yesterday the ACLU, ALA and others filed briefs supporting the injunction calling CIPA unconstitutional issued by a three-judge court last May. The Supreme Court will hear the case on March 5th. (A search on "CIPA" is a good way to catch up on this act, which is basically about installing mandatory censorware on child-accessable publicly funded computers.)
Wait a minute, wasn't it michael-the-slashdot-editor who shut down censorware.org? Your Rights Online my ass.
By doing this are we going to encourage a whole generation of kids to learn to break systems so they can get uncensored access to the internet? How much time will libraries spend cleaning up after budding hackers?
We've all heard the arguments about breast cancer reports and what not, so i dont think software is good enough yet to not filter out useful stuff. Why not just have the computers in plain view of the librarians desk, esp in the kids section. My library only has about 10 net connected computers, and its in my experience, a huge library. It isn't unreasonable for one of the librarians to keep an eye on the 3 net computers in the kids section. As for schools, maybe schools should hire computer teachers as opposed to computer class teachers who just sit there reading their e-mail and playing solitaire while telling us to practice with typing tutor. At home its a no brainer, parents, keep an eye on your kids!
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I don't know what goes these days, but the Pacific Grove public library on the Monterey Peninsula used to have a Playboy subscription in the 70's. Kept this material in an adults-only section of the library - periodical reading room.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I think this is the one that means that just because it isn't mentioned doesn't mean you don't have that right.
Of course I may be interpeting this wrong but it is atleast something besides the first being mentioned (do they get bonus points if it does violate multiple amendments?)
If the library does not impliment always on filtered access to the Internet, they are not eligible for E-Rate funding--a multi-billion dollar fund created by the FCC generated by the Universal Service Fee on your Internet connection, Cell Phone bill, and wired Telephone bill.
Rather than censor the Internet directly, Congress did a run-around and refused funding to schools and libraries that did not impliment an Internet filtering system. Worse yet, you cannot use E-Rate money to pay for a CIPA compliant filtering system: that comes out of your own money.
What does E-Rate funding pay for? Network cabling, equipment, and Leased Internet Access. Up to 90% of those items can be E-Rate funded depending on the awards granted by the SLD (Schools and Libraries Division) of the FCC.
I spend a third of my work week at a major school district dealing with web filter issues. Getting sites either blocked or unblocked. The smart kids find so many ways around the filters through all sorts of proxy sites that it's questionable how useful the filter are.
Any law or act put in effect "for the children" typically has no merit. CIPA is no exception to the rule. It's not the government's job to enforce morality on children--that's what parents are supposed to do.
On the other hand, CIPA provides a wonderful act to hide behind when employees of the school district whine about the filters--especially considering the millions of dollars our school district receives from E-Rate for network cabling, equipment, and Internet access.