Internet Filtering “Public Libraries

Presented by Kristin VandenBerg Kristin VandenBerg , Freethought member

About the Speaker

About the Event

Announcements

Meeting Minutes for January 26, 2000; #61.

We were reminded again of the change of our website and e-mail contact
addresses. They are http://my.voyager.net/freethought &
respectively.

For those able to attend afterwards, we again ventured to Applebee’s
restaurant after the regular meeting.

As mentioned last time, we will begin meeting @ the GRCC Science Building,
as construction will be taking place @ the Wyoming Public Library. Our first
meeting at the new location, downtown GR will be March 8th. Please note this
change. Our meeting time will remain 7PM.

Our Calendar through April 26th is as follows:
· February 9- Animal Rights, moderated by Simon Hatley; Wyo. Publ. Libr.
· February 23- Buddhism, moderated by Steve Andersen; Wyo. Publ. Libr.
· March 8- @ the GRCC Science Bldg.!- Evolutionary Psychology, moderated by
Dr. Greg Miklashek.
· March 22- Evolution of Human Sexuality, moderated by Dr. Carl Bajema;
GRCC, Sci. Bldg.
· April 26- The Life & Times of Clarence Darrow, moderated by Marshall
Grate; GRCC, Sci. Bldg. All to take place @ 7PM.

  • SPECIAL NOTE** We will not be having a regularly scheduled meeting on
    April 12th. This is due to our welcoming the special guest lecturer to the
    Grand Rapids Community College; Michael Shermer, who’s topic will be: Why
    People Believe Weird Things. This was the title of his earlier book that
    explored our uncritical belief in pseudo-science, our pattern-seeking and
    the ease with which we accept claims of the paranormal and other fringe
    beliefs. His most recent book is How We Believe, also by Freeman Press,
    dealing with religious beliefs. Dr Shermer is the editor of Skeptic
    Magazine. Dr Greg Forbes, a FAOWM member and professor @ GRCC, coordinated
    this special opportunity. Professor Forbes is also on the editorial board of
    Skeptic Magazine. This lecture will take place on THURSDAY, April 13th @
    7PM in the Science Building @ GRCC.

    Charley Moore asked for someone to take over coordinating the highway
    clean-up schedule for our group. We have done two previous Adopt-A-Highway
    ventures. Our next one will include a sign with our group name on it. Dennis
    Murphy volunteered to head this up.

    Presentation—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
    Our meeting topic was „Internet Filtering “Public Libraries.” In lieu of
    member Tim V., attorney and Hudsonville Library board member Kristin Vanden
    Berg moderated this discussion.

    Hudsonville & Georgetown have been deeply involved in trying to limit
    Internet access to minors, so as to shield them from sites deemed harmful by
    these communities. The problem is that the concerned individuals are in
    effect restricting access to all patrons of libraries in these communities;
    adults and children alike. More troubling is that this is a clear violation
    of Constitutionally guaranteed Free Speech.

    VandenBerg remarked how amazing it was to her that many citizens seem to
    regard the Constitutional law as merely “an opinion” while looking to the
    state ordinance for guidance as “real law.” While many wish to have total
    censorship, they are willing to accept the provision in the ordinance that
    allows for one unfiltered computer terminal, so long as all the others are
    filtered. She pointed out that this is a violation of Equal Access law.
    Furthermore, the ordinance mandates that the unfiltered terminal be labeled
    in large letters indicating that objectionable content can be accessed
    there. Obviously this is akin to labeling the user, no matter his
    intentions, as a “pervert.”

    Another problem is that this filtering is put in place by people with very
    little training and almost no knowledge of the sites they are censoring.
    They “toggle” off anything that includes a term or reference to anything
    they deem objectionable. This removes access to entire sites and all
    information included therein, if a single passage falls into the narrow
    scope of their often arbitrary filtering. VandenBerg gave as an example of
    how limiting this is by telling of her husband, attempting to pull up more
    information on a militias, after hearing a radio broadcast on NPR about this
    topic. He was unable to do so because “intolerant speech” was filtered out.
    We talked about how difficult research into history and news events would be
    at these terminals.

    There is a solution with current technology that provides a card system to
    access terminals, called Smart Guardian. With this the individual or parent
    of minors can determine the level of filtering of Internet content,
    according to their own comfort and sensibilities. All terminals could be
    accessed without specially designated ones for “unfiltered” use. This system
    has many side benefits as well, including automatic time limits, so that
    library staff do not have to monitor and police the time spent per person at
    each terminal or to be surrogate parents. The American Family Association is
    involved in promoting filters but they do not endorse this system, which
    would do exactly what they supposedly want: to restrict access of
    pornography to minors, for instance. They seem to be content only if they
    are promulgating their personal views upon all other individuals and
    families, in clear violation of our Freedom of Speech. Geogetown even went
    so far as to charge a 100. per hour fee for using the sole unfiltered
    computer.

    We talked about the pervasive group-think Christian conservative mentality
    in these areas where censorship of Internet content is a big issue. There is
    a vicious circle that arises when people do not avail themselves of other
    ideas, investigate other thoughts and beliefs, or critically examine issues,
    but rely on only one source of authority; especially when they attempt to
    deny access to other information, perpetuating the insular quality of their
    lives and giving a sense to them that theirs is the only moral and worthy
    view.

    And we talked about how free speech is dangerous. The framers of the
    Constitution could not foresee the Internet but were well aware of the power
    of ideas and unfettered speech. Yet they wisely deemed the free exchange of
    information to be worth the price. All throughout human history, people have
    tried to limit the access of information to others as a means of control or
    to head off the deterioration of cherished beliefs and myths. Knowledge is
    power and ideas are dangerous but a free democratic society demands that its
    citizens have equal access to accumulated knowledge and its inherent risks.

    Recorder: Charles LaRue