vigilant TV

Mercury News says many US libraries are refusing federal funding – which accounts for only a tiny percentage of their budget – in order to avoid CIPA internet filtering requirements, upon which the funding is conditional.

Many libraries, including Livermore’s, do not take money from the federal government, to avoid filter requirements. Those that do, including the San Jose Public system, said the funds are such a small part of their budget it might be worth it to refuse the money and avoid installing expensive software many patrons are opposed to.

In 1997, the San Jose City Council reaffirmed a policy that allows ``unrestricted access to all library materials and services,’’ said Gordon Yusko, a supervising librarian for 10 branches of the San Jose Public Library. None of the system’s 211 computer terminals have filters on them, Yusko said, and so it will be up to the city whether to install the filtering software or give up the $20,000 the system receives annually in federal funds. The library’s annual operating budget is $20 million.

In Mountain View, the five terminals in the children’s reading section have filters that block pornographic Web sites. However, another 32 in the adult area are not blocked and are available to library patrons of all ages.

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Indeed, libraries that have filters haven’t been successful at eliminating all X-rated content from the eyes of children. Often they have impeded the ability of computer users to get to valid Web sites for information, including tips on treating everything from impotence to sexually transmitted diseases.

– Mercury News, Many libraries will skip grants to avoid using Net filters.

Meanwhile, a timely new study, by the Online Policy Group and EFF, suggests collateral damage from filtering products may be higher than previously thought. Librarians say that, given the secrecy about which sites are blocked, censorware filters are simply more trouble than they’re worth.

The study (PDF) concluded that for every Web page correctly blocked as advertised, one or more was inappropriately blocked.

In several cases, Doherty said, researchers could find no logical reason why a site was deemed off-limits. In one example, a top-selling filtering program blocked a primer on punctuation, tagging it as containing adult or sexually explicit material. Another filter assigned a pornography block code to a Colorado Arts Education page on model content standards for theater.

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“Companies treat both their stop lists and decision matrixes as trade secrets,” [American Library Association IT Policy Office director Rick Weingarten] said. “Libraries are instructed to install these filters and they don’t even know what’s on the block list and what the criteria are for blocking.”

– Wired, Filter-Bashing Alive and Well.