The Censorware Project

First, David Sobel, the General Counsel of The Electronic Privacy Information Center, in conjunction with The First Amendment Center, has published a new piece entitled Internet Filters and Public Libraries. Written in the wake of the June 2003 U. S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act, Sobel surveys the field, speaks of difficulties and challenges that may occur as libraries attempt to implement CIPA. There is little new material here, but it is worth reading as an overview or by those not intimately familiar with the subject.

Second, Karen Schneider, a librarian and long time censorware critic (among other things, she was an expert witness both in the CIPA case and in the much earlier Mainstream Loudoun library filtering case), has blogged a very personal piece explaining why she simply cannot bring herself to help libraries select censorware, despite the result of the CIPA case. Schneider writes:

...

But what I'm not going to do is put myself in the position--even implied--of endorsing the concept that filtering is a good thing. It's not. I grappled hands-on with the software for years in order to be able to develop this mile-high view, and nothing has budged me from this conclusion, because it's so fundamental to how filters work. Internet content filters block access to Constitutionally protected speech, and do so in a way that removes accountability from the vendor and control from the buyer. This is a Bad Thing.

...

But I'm also not Dr. Strangelove. I'm never going to love the bomb. You go ahead, if you need to. Bring in the "experts" to tell you how to "select" filters, prop a couple of vendors on the dais, and make your decisions. It's a tough world, and money is useful. I have said from Day 1 that managers should always be given enough rope to hang themselves with.

I'll keep on with my message, and I won't dilute it or confuse it by appearing to help anyone "choose" a filter. Internet content filters block access to Constitutionally protected speech. Filters are bad news. That's why we fought CIPA and COPA. We lost, but we were still right.

Decades from now, we'll look back at our primitive, panicked decisions, and wonder what all the fuss was about. But if you are waiting for me to love the bomb, pack a lunch and bring a blanket, because you're going to have to wait until Hell freezes over.