dive into mark

AP: Librarians challenge Internet porn filtering in federal trial. [via PoochKiss]

The government argues that filtering software has vastly improved since the law was enacted, making fewer mistakes and allowing libraries to unblock sites that were blocked in error. The government also contends that printed pornographic materials are not in many library collections, so there is no reason why online obscenity should be.

This is the root of the problem: the lack of the right analogy. The contents of web sites that library patrons visit are not “part of” the library’s collection in the same way that a magazine on a shelf is “part of” the library’s collection. The internet connection libraries provide is a general-purpose conduit to a world of independently maintained information. In a sense, libraries are acting as geographically-limited ISPs, and ISPs are supposed to be immune to this sort of content-based legislation.

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