Another Look At Filtering

Another look at filtering
No longer is there an “intellectual freedom� issue for libraries anymore. Here is the reason why.

CIPA act requires unfettered access for adults.

That is why there is the “click through feature� in a modern filter . It means if you were to go to a porn site the .html block notification would allow you to click through anyways.

Thats the law.

If the library does not want to set the click through to “ON� then they can jump up and down responding to every request for an “over ride�.
Either way it is the same. No difference ( not counting the physical toll on the librarians).

If you want to follow the evolution of this argument and its key protagonists…check out Jay Curries “library filtering blogâ€?

http://www.libraryfilter.blogspot.com/

work backwards through the links and you will be up to speed.

Total disclosure I am the producer of The Internet Filter IF-2K

http://www.internetfilter.com

Now the children’s library well thats an other problem.

Re:Another look at filtering

Fang – Face wrote

“You might be opposed to the use of keyword blocking, Mr. Turner, but that’s a far cry from there not being keyword based filtering out there.” ………………………………………….. ………………………………………

Turner writes

It’s not so much as “I’m opposed ” to “key word filtering as much as I’m exposing it as a bad idea. It is bad because more sophisticated technical options have evolved. Think of it this way. Win 3.1 was very sophisticated for the 486 computer. This would not make it a wise purchase now because things have evolved.

The fact that the us government made the same mistake..perhaps I’m not understanding you …I don’t know how that would alter the point…

Google is currently making the same mistake now…they are using key word blocking…still it is not a sophisticated concept and definitely not a “good ideaâ€?.

Google aside…my personal reaction to the “key word blockingâ€? argument when it comes up is “this person has disingenuously put up a red herring called “key word blockingâ€? to make filtering look stupider than it is. However, I don’t actually know what is going through another persons mind at the other end of a computer terminal … I treat it like a genuine argument and attempt to “upgrade the thinkingâ€?… and should I be wrong …get my “thinking upgradedâ€? ……in this case putting “key word blocking in perspective…here it goes…..it exists …..its an old concept ……some people still use it…….it’s a bad idea …there is choice out there…get better software.

There are enough stupid problems with negative filtering software as it exists.
It doesn’t have to be framed so ‘disingenuouslyâ€?

Thus been said, I am aware some people still use it. That is a fact. ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ………….

Fang Face writes:

“And I’m sure that someone will try to say that since Mr. McCullagh’s political viewpoints are obviously in the wrong camp his information cannot possibly be valid. However, a fact doesn’t stop being a fact just because it is uttered by someone with a viewpoint you don’t like. “ ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. …………..
Turner writes:

Declan McCuloch, I’m not sure if I know what you mean be being in the “wrong campâ€?. But he is and has always been extremely “anti filtering. He founded “fight – censorship” which was the hot bed of ant-censorship /filtering/censoreware rhetoric.

It is too bad they have taken the archives down.

I think it contained the most relevant documentation of the history of filtering in that political rhetorical area 1996-2000 (aprox). I shudder to think about what the filtering industry would have done if there were no Declan McCulughs, No Seth Finkelstein , Bennet Haselltons and quite a few more …these are the enduring names that immediately come to mind there were many others. However, that being said I have never seen Declan McCullagh say “key word filteringâ€? is a good idea. I suspect he’d agree with me that it is not a good idea.. I have no idea which viewpoint Declan McCullagh has that you think I don’t like

I subscribe to Polytech …some things I like about him and some things I don’t. Pretty much like real life. I’m probably more in agreement with most things he might say about filtering than I would disagree with. As a matter of fact I can’t actually think of anything he has said re filtering that I disagree with..but I suppose there must be something its just I can’t remember everything he’s said…I do however think he over generalizes and in an effort to produce volumes of material he doesn’t do enough homework and fails to note the difference between “lice and fleasâ€?…in short doesn’t notice the details. This is also pretty much the state of North American Journalism …its more of a cultural condition so
I don’t fault him for it. Thats the way it is if your swimming in Washington waters. ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. …

Fang Face writes:

“As for CIPA being “The Law”, it is also “The Law” that I do not require your permission to look at anything I choose to. Click through features also violate that principle.â€? ………………………………………….. …………………………………………..

Twisting the point and personalizing it so you can arrive at any sense of “asking my permission� is in my view a cognitive malfunction.

The real point of course is if libraries want the $$$ they have to be CIPA compliant.
Any constructive dialog will be about how to achieve the best results.

Nobody has ever asked my permission to look at anything (except for maybe my kids …and they probably did not ask for permission much .)

What the CIPA law requires is that no adult can be denied access to information. This means if a site is blocked by design

for example

lotsofsluts.com …. blocked by design

or by accident

for example

netscape.com ….. blocked as a result of an over blocking error

the adult has the right to “demand” the librarian manually or otherwise release the block.

Then the librarian has to comply or violate the conditions of the CIPA act.
to “on” and the adult can take the block notification as a warning and proceed happily to lotsasluts.com and as they say “fill their boots” or to Netscape.com where they can happily search for lotsasluts.com or what ever they wish.

My permission never enters into it. I am simply the producer of filtering software with a click through feature.

http://www.internetfiltering.com

I have nothing to do with lobbying or even writing the US government. I have never made one sales call or sent an e-mail to a library suggesting they should filter and/or use our product. I only respond to web /telephone and e-mail requests. We are entirely “pull driven� in production and sales. We literally have no marketing but have been suppliers to those who are in business or license our product and put their own name on it.

Thus said, I personally know of one of our clients (rebrander) who hired telephone soliceters and phoned every library in the USA.

Personally, I think selling to libraries is a rats nest of complications. However, it is an interesting philosophical situation and of extreme interest to filtering vendors of which I am only one. And also sales = $$$ and that is also part of what we do here.

There is no doubt in my mind that the “click through” handles the legal situation in a sane and responsible manor. My own legal consultants have concluded this as well as Mary Minnow. She has written a formidable legal paper for libraries:

http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_4/minow/#note 3

and you could also go to my consultant, Jay Currie’s blog:

http://www.libraryfilter.blogspot.com/

and if you drill backwards you will see the evolution of the thinking process
quite easily and quickly.

And lastly …I agree with you the “click through” feature has nothing to do with protecting children. That is a totally different story.
One which I intend to put forward thoughtful input to this group, but for now I don’t think there is any negative blocking program good enough for the “children’s library”. At the moment it is a case finding the “least worse ” which I don’t think is good enough.it is not only a matter of CIPA compliance but also of “good sense”.

If you went to

http://www.sparkpod.com/turner

and drilled backwards you would see what I’m thinking of there.. but currently still researching. More on that later.

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