[11674] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: Filtering vs. Censorship
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Karen G. Schneider)
Mon Sep 22 20:36:20 1997
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 18:14:51 -0500
From: "Karen G. Schneider" <kgs@bluehighways.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.96.970918162828.16484A-100000@yin.interaccess.c om>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
A technical point of correction. Filter companies are attempting to target
what people do *not* want to see. The comment about user feedback (a
feature not always found in filters, though clearly desirable) points up
what is really an exception-handling mechanism. Since filter vendors do
not employ librarians, and are really software manufacturers, they are at a
great remove from information services from an end-user's perspective, and
the presence of these exception-handling mechanisms, while important, also
underscores the divide between the vendor's world and their markets.
As for what these companies are aiming for, they are not in the profession
of public service; they are in the business of selling a product. This is
not inherently bad, but it is a different motivation than that of the
typical information professional.
Finally, librarians have made selection decisions for a long time, and
companies that have been in this business for less than a year--and with
little or no understanding of the ultimate impact of their products on
information services--should not be assumed to be equal to the task.
>> You've described a "bad" filter here. The folks who design them
>> aim for something better by figuring out what users want, even
>> letting user - feedback determine it. Censors aren't interested
>> in that, except pretty indirectly. The intentions are opposite.
>>
>> There is a lot of information out there, but then there always
>> has been. Libraries -- librarianship -- could be seen as an
>> enormous "filter": Umberto Eco's mumbled worries about "Who,
>> what authority will decide which books to retain?" -- libraries /
>> librarianship have done this for a long time, but you wouldn't
>> call it "censorship"....
>> Jack Kessler...
>> kessler@well.sf.ca.us
______________________________________________
Karen G. Schneider | kgs@bluehighways.com
Director, US EPA Region 2 Library | Contractor, GCI
Councilor-at-Large, American Library Association
The Internet Filter Assessment Project:
http://www.bluehighways.com/tifap/
Author, Forthcoming: A Practical Guide to Internet Filters
(Neal Schuman, 1997)
Information is hard work -------------------------------------------
