LISNews: The Librarian's Huge Cache

Anonymous Patron writes "Washington Post: The Howard County library system is reviewing its highly unusual procedure of allowing its patrons unfettered access to the Internet. In recent years, most public library systems in Maryland have installed Internet filtering programs that block access to Web sites containing obscene or pornographic material. Howard officials are tracking usage of the computers to see whether and how often patrons are accessing objectionable sites, said Charles J. Broida, a trustee who also serves a counsel to the library system. The tracking method does not reveal the identities of patrons, but it does show what they're viewing."

From The AP: Internet providers told Congress on Tuesday they're doing all they can to combat online child pornography, but they were told to expect legislation.

Several providers voiced skepticism about creating new laws that would force them to retain data about their users' online activity.

Any such measure would be costly, easily circumvented and would ``fall far short of its intended goal,'' AOL chief counsel John Ryan told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.

Lawmakers, however, said more must be done to stop the availability of child porn on the Web and chat rooms where pedophiles troll for young victims.

jepling writes "State's effort to block Web sites has plenty of holes: Inconsistency sparks criticismKentucky state employees can still surf to humor, sports, blogs, and other sites despite efforts to filter them. The state's campaign to filter Web sites has not been entirely successful, as shown by a reporter's sampling of sites on a state computer. The purpose of the filtering is to keep state employees focused on state business while on state time. Louisville Courier-Journal has the scoop"

News From Australia where they say will be six months before families can obtain a free filter to block offensive material on home computers.

The technology is, however, available at cost price from internet service providers under an existing child protection scheme.
Details of the Howard Government's $116 million attempt to make all internet-enabled home and library computers child-friendly remain patchy.

It is likely parents and library staff will select accredited filtering software from a central site.

Carl Monday, an investigative journalist from a TV station in Cleveland, turns his attention to porn on the library computers in two video segments here and here. The segments contain all the hallmarks of Geraldo Rivera style reportage, including shoving microphones in people's faces, dramatic family confrontations, and lots of cursing. The reporter also has a blog entry on his segments with 49 comments so far.

One From CNet on those darn kids. Nowadays, an increasing number of teenagers are setting up proxies on home PCs to sidestep school filtering traps, in addition to using free proxies set up on the Web, according to technologists at schools and at content-filtering technology providers.

Proxies are just one of many tricks that kids use to break locks put on forbidden material--a pursuit of almost any young generation. As more schools place tight controls on PCs to stop kids from file-sharing, instant messaging, social networking or looking at undesirable material online, the kids are getting more clever, tech experts say.

Seth Finkelstein writes "The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), requires censorware in
most schools and libraries for adults and minors alike. A new report
from the Free Expression Policy Project at the Brennan Center for
Justice explains the effects of CIPA and then analyzes nearly 100
tests and studies that demonstrate how filters operate as censorship
tools. "Internet Filters: A Public Policy Report" concludes: Although
some may say that the debate is over and that filters are now a fact
of life, it is never too late to rethink bad policy choices. The
report is available at
fepproject.org [PDF]"

A teenager at a Pennsylvania school gets caught handing out business cards with instructions on how to circumvent his school's Web filter.

But instead of throwing the school discipline book at him, administrators offer a choice: They'll give him a break if he lets the school's tech people know how he beat the system. CNET Has The Story.

jbz writes "Here's PC magazine's review of an internet filter, currently being marketed to parents, that claims to evaluate and block inappropriate websites based on scans of actual content, not listing on a blacklist.

MG75 writes "As we all know when it comes to computers in the library, there is the debate to filter or not to filter. Pima County government is about to take over the operation of the Tuscon-Pima Public Library from the city in a few months and will be installing filters on all of the computers in the library. Here is the story from
the Arizona Daily Star."