March 2001

Search engines grapple with constant Web growth

CNN has A Look At search engines.


With the internet over 550 billion pages, they say much of the most interesting and valuable content remains hard to find, and search engines are just having a hard time keeping up.

I never seem to have any trouble, is it just me?

Meanwhile This Story talks about the The Internet Engineering Task Force and it\’s work to keep things moving.

And the USA Today wonders aloud if the Net\’s free ride is ending. Will we have to pay for Yahoo! in the future?

AFA Vs. ALA

The American Family Association has a Story that hits the ALA pretty hard.


Calling the new public library \”the only X-rated shop in town\”, Don Otis has no kind words for libraries that do not have filters. He says the library director, chairman and the entire board of trustees have surrendered to the agenda of the ALA. Further, a librarian who dares to stand for reasonable standards risks the intolerance of the ALA.

\”Steal a child\’s innocence and you shatter his faith. As Sir Edmund Burke wisely observed, \”Tell me what are the prevailing sentiments that occupy the minds of your young people and I will tell you what is to be the character of the next generation.\” A morally prudent society can ill afford to ignore the senseless arguments espoused by those intolerant of Judeo-Christian principles.\”

CIPA – the Supply Side

Bryan Nichols has written a very funny and perceptive piece on the CIPA as a Machiavellian cure for our current ersatz economic recession. He writes for the online version of the Iowa State Daily.

He notes: \”Congress… is using CIPA as a way to get out of our current economic slump.\” …everyone has an interest in getting cheaper, better, faster pornography. The Internet is perfect for this. In fact, according to CNN, 37 percent of Internet users access pornographic sites…

Bryan Nichols has written a very funny and perceptive piece on the CIPA as a Machiavellian cure for our current ersatz economic recession. He writes for the online version of the Iowa State Daily.

He notes: \”Congress… is using CIPA as a way to get out of our current economic slump.\” …everyone has an interest in getting cheaper, better, faster pornography. The Internet is perfect for this. In fact, according to CNN, 37 percent of Internet users access pornographic sites…

Bryan Nichols has written a very funny and perceptive piece on the CIPA as a Machiavellian cure for our current ersatz economic recession. He writes for the online version of the Iowa State Daily.

He notes: \”Congress… is using CIPA as a way to get out of our current economic slump.\” …everyone has an interest in getting cheaper, better, faster pornography. The Internet is perfect for this. In fact, according to CNN, 37 percent of Internet users access pornographic sites…

The best and brightest will quickly go to work figuring out new ways to get porn. And just as with computers, VCRs, the Internet, etc., society will climb on the back of these pornographic Columbuses and ride them to a dynamic new economy.

Congress obviously predicted this sort of technological adaptation, and likewise predicted it would be a perfect way to improve the economic downturn. So Congress, even though it usually appears to be stupid and misinformed, has apparently been pulling the wool over all of our eyes.

see:
http://news.excite.com/news/uw/010322/university-201

Why Vote for Mitch Freedman?

I asked all three ALA candidates one simple, final question. Why should we vote for them.

Here is his answer:

\”From my teen days as a page at the Newark [N.J.] Public Library through the years at U.C. Berkeley\’s School of Librarianship & the Free Speech Movement, the Library of Congress, Hennepin County Library, New York Public Library, Columbia University\’s library school, and the Westchester Library System (WLS), I have fought for free access and information equity. Today, as our libraries face laws mandating filters, the loss or privatization of government information, a growing digital divide, and the outsourcing of library service and management, we need a strong ALA more than ever.\”

Plenty more, so read on…

I asked all three ALA candidates one simple, final question. Why should we vote for them.

Here is his answer:

\”From my teen days as a page at the Newark [N.J.] Public Library through the years at U.C. Berkeley\’s School of Librarianship & the Free Speech Movement, the Library of Congress, Hennepin County Library, New York Public Library, Columbia University\’s library school, and the Westchester Library System (WLS), I have fought for free access and information equity. Today, as our libraries face laws mandating filters, the loss or privatization of government information, a growing digital divide, and the outsourcing of library service and management, we need a strong ALA more than ever.\”

Plenty more, so read on…As President of ALA I will fight for:

· Intellectual freedom

· no externally imposed filtering requirements; fair use of databases and software (NO to CIPA, NO to UCITA, & NO to excessive limitations on use in licensing agreements!)

· pay equity and better salaries for all library workers

· increased funding for libraries, library construction and government publication programs

· recruitment, education, and retention of a diverse library work force

· support early childhood initiatives and family and information literacy

· free access to libraries and information for all

· programs and funding to support early childhood initiatives and family literacy

· continued recognition that libraries are physical, as well as virtual places

· school libraries in their struggle against externally imposed filters and censorship; and the promotion of collaboration between school & public libraries and librarians


I am a plaintiff in the ACLU suit against CIPA; I was the only librarian plaintiff in the ACLU-ALA lawsuit that overthrew NY\’s harmful to minors Internet law.


Both as an on-the-job librarian and as a participating member of national, regional, state, and local library organizations I have been a passionate advocate and fighter for the fundamental principles of our profession.


I am committed to diversity, not just talking about it, but doing something about it.


I have worked in almost every kind of library setting, and know and understand the needs of America\’s diverse library landscape:


The Library of Congress

Information Dynamics Corporation

Hennepin County Library

New York Public Library

(Taught at) Columbia University School of Library Service

Westchester Library System


I also offer the following professional activity as further support for the breadth of my background and experience in the ALA and as a professional librarian:

Publisher, U*N*A*B*A*S*H*E*DTM Librarian; 3 books, dozens of articles; consultant on four continents; PLA, LITA, ALCTS, SRRT committee assignments; 5-term ALA Councilor; Chair, Pay Equity Committee; President, LITA; Committee on Status of Women in Librarianship; LITA Award; ACLU Award; Great Books Award; Women in Communications Award


Organizational & Other Endorsements: The following groups have endorsed by candidacy. They reflect my career-long commitment to diversity and fairness:
REFORMA, ALA Feminist Task Force, Many Leaders of the Black Caucus of ALA (including its founder, Dr. E. J. Josey, Khafre Abif, Stanton Biddle, Dr. Alex Boyd, Florence Simkins Brown, Rodney Lee, and Samuel Morrison), Progressive Librarians Guild, SRRT, GLBTRT.


For a fuller statement of who I am, what I\’ve done, what I stand for, and what I\’ll do as your president, please see my web site,

www.mitch4prez.org

Library Used to Commit Biggest Cyber-Fraud in History

If
[this one]
doesn\’t make some people nervous about online privacy, nothing will.
It seems that a number of the 400 wealthiest people in America, as listed by Forbes magazine, were ripped off by a busboy who used library computers to do the dirty deed. You\’ll be surprised at the names on this list and how many millions of dollars the thug is accused of stealing. And, he accomplished it via the Internet. One item of interest, he didn\’t try to rip off Bill Gates, whose name tops the list of America\’s most wealthy. [more…] from the New York Post.

E-Book Report

Charlotte Abbot wrote a report on E-Books for Contentville
According to her, the reason e-book innovation is a little slow is because \”publishers and authors are just now waking up from 500 years of paper-bound thinking.\” [more…]

Who’s Really Thinking Of The Children?

SF Gate has This Editorial on the filtering hoo haa, sent in by Bob Cox.


They say that CIPA will do what no other ratings system (eg. MPAA) has tried to do, It doesn\’t just say what\’s good or bad, it will just block your access to the \”bad\”.

This article makes more than a few good arguments against CIPA, example, CIPA effectively makes public Internet usage controlled by corporations.

\”For the federal government to put pressure on schools and libraries to filter the Internet is far more insidious than the MPAA or other rating schemes for entertainment media, because the Internet is far more than just an entertainment medium.\”