Smartfilter in Utah: Conclusion

When the Declaration of Independence is banned from the citizens of Saudi Arabia, so that they won't get ideas, we call it culturally backward. And when it's banned from our own public libraries by our own government, then what do we call it?

Readers who skim the Appendix will note that the entire Internet Wiretap server (wiretap.area.com or wiretap.spies.com) is banned under the Criminal Skills category. The archive contains hundreds of megabytes of books out of copyright, governmental and civics material, religious material, etc. What got it banned might have been the statement on its opening page, which a computer routine probably considered to be indicative of bomb-making:

Wiretap's Inspiration

The First Amendment

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Disturbed by free speech?

"Printer's ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries."

--Chistopher Morley, "The Haunted Bookshop"

It is a sad day when a quotation about free speech can get hundreds of books banned without any public oversight or review. UEN, in its quest to eliminate so-called undesirable content, has instead eliminated the one thing that makes the United States different and better than other countries around the world: the ability for citizens to speak and read freely, without the government watching over your shoulder.

Michael Sims
The Censorware Project
http://censorware.org/ (now http://censorware.net/)

continue: Acknowledgements

back to Table of Contents

This document last updated on Thursday September 07 2000.