Saturday, June 2, 2007
aclu surveillance campaign video
Sunday, May 27, 2007
contagious diseases and the library
washington legislature passes anti-real id bill
"Under the REAL ID Act, states and federal government would share access to a vast national database that could include images of birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce papers, and more, including detailed information on the name, date of birth, race, and Social Security Number for more than 240 million individuals, with no requirements or controls on how this database might be used."
while some of the content can already be found through public records, having so much information in one place can only cause problems for the privacy of individuals. but it is heartening that states are beginning to take a stand against the act.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
viruses, spyware and filters
Sunday, May 6, 2007
thoughts on this week's lecture
of course local news programs constantly report on instances of improper relationships between faculty/administrators and students. pornography is inevitably found on the fired teacher's school computer, and the school board probably fears that access to such material might fuel lawsuits for somehow encouraging unprofessional behavior. this really ties into the lecture about how the media can exclude all but the most salicious details, in reviews of controversial material and in stories on school scandals. how much porn would be found on the hard drive of the anatomy or sex education teachers' computers? its mere existence doesn't prove any link to bad conduct. of course the multitude of porn sites and pop-ups are extremely annoying when you're trying to search for legitimate information (i won't even go into my results when looking for pictures of nurses for a presentation in lis 510). but, as we have discussed before in the class, when you attempt to block one segment of material, you block other unintended ones as well.
I shouldn't be surprised at the lack of trust given to those who are responsible for educating the youth, but still...
Sunday, April 22, 2007
sectioning off
for assignment 2 i cited the case of sund v. city of
also, i wonder how many librarians and bookstore owners truly think through their decisions when designing and labeling the different subject sections. at times it almost looks like segregation, with so many authors divided by race and sexuality. when i was younger, living in the south and in the closet, i was nervous as hell whenever i stood in the gay and lesbian area. it made me paranoid and certain that everyone around me was staring and judging. why shouldn’t all literature just be labeled as fiction and collocated? is there a reason why african-american and asian authors need separate shelves? i always felt that i was being singled out when browsing, and that the books were either consciously or subconsciously placed there to create a subtle level of intimidation. but it completely depends on the context. when jeanette winterson is in a separate section in a seattle library, it feels more like a positive acknowledgment of diversity. i think it's hard to predict the reactions of patrons and whether they'll view the physical separation as easier access or as a barrier, and is best left together.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
net nanny bought out by (potentially) biased company
i recently read a post on librarylaw blog that raised an issue concerning internet filters that i hadn’t considered before. net nanny, which some libraries use, was bought out by contentwatch in february. apparently there are links on the contentwatch website which eventually lead to quotes from religious figures and the christian broadcasting network.
“ContentWatch also maintains a list of articles about pornography and child safety under the heading “LearningCenter.” Their list on pornography includes articles such as “Internet Porn Is a Drug and Pornographers Are Drug Dealers” and “It’s Not About the First Amendment,” both by Mark Kastleman (who has published a book called “The Drug of the New Millennium: The Science of How Internet Pornography Radically Alters the Human Brain and Body,” published by Granite Publishers, which is affiliated with the Latter Day Saints).”
if contentwatch is religiously-biased and not concerned with the first amendment, i wonder if they would be brazen enough to make any obvious changes to the number of sites that are blocked. surely they know librarians are just waiting to pounce on new evidence against the very existence of filters. at this point we can only hope they are that oblivious so the ala can raise new legal challenges to cipa.