Last week CP80 posted a story about filtering in public libraries. This is nothing new. Libraries have been defending their position to not filter the Internet since they started granting free access more than a decade ago.
And yet, more than a decade later, we are still dealing with the issue. Many argue that a library has no business filtering the Internet. Others posit that free and open access to the Internet presents a danger for children. Various solutions have been tried: monitoring, limiting access by age, creating computer labs. There are even some laws that require some libraries to filter if they wish to receive certain types of public funding.
For all the debates, laws, and legal battles you'd think we would have made progress by now. We haven't. The Hamburg Township Board of Trustees in Hamburg, Michigan recently revised its approach to Internet abuses in its libraries. The board decided to place signs warning users that the Internet is unfiltered. The board conducted a review of Internet policies after a resident was caught performing a lewd act while accessing pornography on the library's computer. 3 complaints were made about the individuals behavior - the final resulted in an arrest.
Hamburg is not the only town that has repeatedly revisited its Internet use policies in libraries. We must move the discussion beyond filtering (which doesn't work anyway) to finding real and available technological solutions, like the CP80 Internet Zoning Initiative, which put the choice and burden on individual users.
The CP80 Foundation is pleased to offer free training to individuals who wish to learn more about the Internet, pornography, current laws and the CP80 Internet Channel Initiative.
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