At 3:59 AM -0800 2/29/00, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>> At 08:36 AM 02/27/2000 -0600, Harmon Seaver wrote:
>> > Most libraries vetoed the idea of "customer tracking" long, long ago,
>> >after the FBI started visiting libraries demanding that they be given the
>> >records of what certain people -- commies -- were reading. Library
>> >computers automatically delete the record of who had a book immediately
>> >after it's checked back in.
>>
>> Yes, though some of the Filtering-To-Protect-Our-Kids people want
>> recordkeeping on library internet use.
>
> You won't find many librarians who are in favor of filtering, that's
>something being pushed on libraries, not by them. The ALA has been in the
>forefront of the fight against filtering, and also in free speech issues.
You'd be surprised at how many libraries have their own filtering rules,
implemented either with filters (like SafeSurf and its cousins) or with
rules about which sites may be visited.
Here in my County, Santa Cruz County, the Internet terminals are restricted
in various ways. Try pulling up images of "Brandy Sanders, Penthouse Pet of
the Month" in all her legs spread glory and see what happens. Either the
sites will be blocked (however ineffectually) by the aforementioned
filters, or nosy libraries will intervene.
No government agencies, from the Federal or State level, are pushing this
on them.
--Tim May
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
