>From Edupage/Educom... AN ORDER TO DESTROY A CD-ROM RAISES CONCERNS College and university librarians are disturbed by a federal order to destroy a CD-ROM containing data deemed too sensitive for public distribution. The CD-ROM, disseminated by the U.S. Geological Survey, contains information about national water supplies. The government ordered its destruction on the grounds that America's enemies could exploit this information. Copies of the CD-ROM were handed out to libraries participating in the Federal Depository Library Program. Ruth Parlin, director of Castleton State College's Calvin Coolidge Library, noted that security-sensitive documents are usually not included in the program, making this turn of events "problematic." Patrice McDermott of the American Library Association said the government's request ran contrary to the ALA's code of ethics, which is against censorship. "This is part of a bigger issue of restriction of access to government information on the Web and elsewhere," she explained. (Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 14 February 2002)
Steve Scarbrough, Technology Coordinator Storm Lake Community School District 419 Lake Avenue Storm Lake, IA 50588 712.732.8100 fax:8101 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.storm-lake.k12.ia.us/~sscarbrough/ --------------------------------------------------------- Archived messages from this list can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/tech-cord@aea5.k12.ia.us/ ---------------------------------------------------------
