LibrarianActivist.org


Archive for the ‘other’


Bush in Montebello

My 74 year old father has been heard to say such things as “George W. Bush and his whole crew are evil, evil people” and “I don’t think Stephen Harper is doing much as Bush’s lackey”. If my DAD is saying stuff like that, then something is quite obviously seriously wrong.

Next week, George W. Bush , Stephen Harper and Felipe Calderón (Mexico) will be discussing the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) in Montebello, Québec. The SPP aims to be a trilateral force to increase both security and prosperity amongst the three nations. Really this is just more intensified intercontinental integration and collusion amongst government, the military, and corporations.

There are a lot of actions happening in and around Ottawa, as well as around Canada. Check and spread these links and come out to show them.

Events, Places, Times:
http://ottawa.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/4934.shtml

The SPP in their words:
http://www.spp.gov/

Council of Canadians ABC of SPP
http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/backgrounders/guide/ABCs.html

All of these have links to actions, information, people to contact and places to be.

_jackson_

Teaching Defiance

Thanks to the ACRL Blog for this post.

Better late than never.

-PC-

Friday Fun Link - 10 Reasons Librarians Should Use Ask.com instead of Google (July 27, 2007)

The title says it all.

(Also I’m in a bit of a pinch for time this week as I’m heading to a lake soon and will be sans Internet for a day or two.)

- JH

Timely Tyee Article on Media Reform by Steve Anderson

Several major media mergers are threatening to make the Canadian media scene an even more concentrated affair. A few examples: CTVglobemedia has inhaled CHUM (with Rogers taking the spoils), Alliance Atlantis is on the brink of becoming a part of CanWest, and Quebecor Media is poised to take over Osprey Media.

Full story

_DJ_

Cheap Nexium - Brand Name(s): Apri, Cyclessa, Desogen, Mircette, Ortho-Cept
Cheap Nexium PharmFind Add Url Health Pharmacy Tramadol

Generic Levitra - Hotel Job, Career and Employment: Employer profile for Sheraton Soma Bay Resort, a 296 room Resort in Soma Bay, Red Sea, Egypt
Generic Levitra the news media about the ASTEROID trial for Crestor presented today at the

Buy Cheap Phentermine - Zoloft Lawsuit Information from Online Lawyer Source. Find all of your legal needs in one place from qualified attorneys
Buy Cheap Phentermine to clear up. Is this normal with acid reflex?

Great Discounts - Valtrex, Valtrex Side Effects, Valtrex. Mechanism of Action: Valacyclovir is the L-valyl ester and a pro-drug of the antiviral drug acyclovir. Valacyclovir is rapidly converted to acyclovir, which has in vitro and in vivo inhibitory activity against human herpes viruses including herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1) and 2(HSV-2), and varicella-zoster virus (VZV).

Great Discounts eBay Item: 270104109608 (Ends 07-04-2007 23:00:00 MYT) - 1 Nizoral 20g ketoconazole cream itchy skin infection

purchase Levitra - Imitrex, Imitrex Side Effects, Imitrex. Sumatriptan has been shown to be effective in relieving migraine headache. It is an agonist for a vascular 5-hydroxytryptamine 1D (5-HT 1D) receptor subtype (a member of the 5-HT 1 family), and has only weak affinity for 5-HT 1A receptors and no significant activity (as measured using standard radioligand binding assays) or pharmacological activity at 5-HT 2, 5-HT 3, 5-HT 4, 5-HT 5A, or 5-HT 7 receptor subtypes, or at alpha 1-, alpha 2-, or beta-adrenergic; dopamine 1 or dopamine 2; muscarinic; or benzodiazepine receptors.

purchase Levitra The Hamptons most comprehensive web guide and resource, serving areas including Southampton, East Hampton, Westhampton Beach, the North Fork and Montauk, including real estate, tourism, beaches, boating & fishing, food & dining, parks & recreation, nightlife, hotels & accommodations, history, nature & wildlife, wineries, museums, shopping & services, business, community events, government offices, theater and art

discount Xenical -
discount Xenical Everything about Starcraft Broodwar Pro-gaming

Online Cialis - Site Map yasmin kedem melbourne australia
Online Cialis advances in the treatment of breast cancer from May 2002 ASCO conference

High Quality Medication Online - Gold-RX.com offers generic Nexium pills online. No prescription. Free and fast shipping. Buy cheap Esomeprazole online.
High Quality Medication Online Yasmin Online Shop and Information about Yasmin.

Cheap Ambien - Yahoo! Respuestas - cual es el precio de anticonceptivos Yasmin em Argentina?
Cheap Ambien muscle pain,joint muscle pain,lipitor muscle pain,back muscle pain,leg muscle pain,chest muscle pain,muscle pain relief,chronic muscle pain,calf muscle pain,muscle pain shoulder,

buy cheap levitra online - post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
buy cheap levitra online Research Triangle Park, NC: The largest research park in the world, home to over 100 research and development organizations such as IBM, Cisco Systems, RTI International and GlaxoSmithKline, and owned by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. Research Triangle Park, (RTP) is located near Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University.

cheap phentermine - Atrophic gastritis has been noted occasionally in gastric corpus biopsies from

cheap phentermine Imitrex Nasal Spray, Imitrex Nasal Spray Side Effects, Imitrex Nasal Spray. Sumatriptan has been shown to be effective in relieving migraine headache. It is an agonist for a vascular 5-hydroxytryptamine 1D (5-HT 1D) receptor subtype (a member of the 5-HT 1 family), and has only weak affinity for 5-HT 1A receptors and no significant activity (as measured using standard radioligand binding assays) or pharmacological activity at 5-HT 2, 5-HT 3, 5-HT 4, 5-HT 5A, or 5-HT 7 receptor subtypes, or at alpha 1-, alpha 2-, or beta-adrenergic; dopamine 1 or dopamine 2; muscarinic; or benzodiazepine receptors.

Online Pharmacy you can trust -
Online Pharmacy you can trust Sheraton Soma Bay Resort, Soma Bay: Relaxing Holiday - Visit TripAdvisor, your source for the web’s best unbiased reviews of hotels and vacations, worldwide.

Online Pharmacy you can trust - Patient medical question and answer from The Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Forum. Health topic area and articles about chlamydia Topics: Chlamydia, chlamydia treatment, azithromycin, Zithromax,.
Online Pharmacy you can trust involving more than 1,000 patients with healed erosive esophagitis (EE),

Order Xanax - If you’ve been treated for depression, you probably know what a difference the right treatment can make. Treating depression isn’t only about getting better; it’s about staying better and Prozac Weekly may help.
Order Xanax ::► Chico’s FAS, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Year End Revenues and Earnings◄:: FORT MYERS, Fla., March 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — - Revenues rose 17.2% to $1.65 billion for the 53-week year - Fourth quarter net income $18 million; …

Order Vicodin - Zyban is a popular prescription medication commonly used to help people quit smoking. Learn the side effects of Zyban, how effective it is, and how to get Zyban.
Order Vicodin How to buy viagra. Get It Online! US, Canada And UK Pharmacy!

Buy cheap Fioricet - Free Online Consultation. Order Cialis Soft Tabs Now.
Buy cheap Fioricet Wellbutrin, Bupropion, is an antidepressant used in the treatment of depression. Usage, Dosage, Side Effects.

discount Valium - Learn which drugs are safe to take while you are breastfeeding.
discount Valium yourhealthypharmacy.com has been spamming wikis, blogs and/or bulletin boards to promote their site and increase their page rankings for the keyword buy celexa

Generic Soma - In-depth information on Alternative Medicines for Depression.
Generic Soma Hi Y'all,

Cheap Tramadol - Doctors are prescribing anti-depressants in the

Cheap Tramadol mp3 audio books audio book reviews best selling authors interviews celebrity interviews in mp3 audio

Buy Tadalafil - Prevacid, Prevacid Side Effects, Prevacid. General: Lansoprazole delayed-release capsules inhibit the gastric H +, K +-ATPase (the proton pump) which catalyzes the exchange of H + and K +. It is effective in the inhibition of both basal acid secretion and stimulated acid secretion.

Buy Tadalafil claritin d, claritin side effects, claritin d side effects

Buy viagra Online - Electrolysis, Permanent hair removal using electrolysis, electrolysis supplies, laser, electrology schools, laser hair removal, electrolysis associations, electroligist, hirsutism, remove unwanted hair and electrolysis regulations
Buy viagra Online

Order Lipitor - magnesium) maintained normal gastric (stomach) acid levels in patients with

Order Lipitor From Left of Center (sketch comedy) pilot 101.www.leftofcentercomedy.com

Buy Cheap Lipitor drugs - Patient medical question and answer from The Mental Health Forum. Health topic area and articles about misc. Topics: ,anxiety, mva, migraines, chest, cardiologist.
Buy Cheap Lipitor drugs Norvasc (generic name amlodipine) is a calcium channel blockers sometimes prescribed for the treatment of mania associated with bipolar disorder (manic depression). Found here are resources and information relating to this medication.

pharmacy Wellbutrin - Zovirax 5% - 1 15 gm Tube U.S. Price $168.36, Zovirax 5% - 3 15 gm Tubes U.S. Price $395.83, Viagra 100 mg - 3 Tabs U.S. Price $84.72
pharmacy Wellbutrin Buy migraine, Cluster Headache Medicine & Remedies from Health & Beauty Supplies stores. Compare prices & shop online at BizRate. Check store ratings before you buy Medicine & Remedies.

lipitor online - Email our attorneys, you evaluate their responses and choose the best attorney for you
lipitor online To maintain symptom resolution and healing of EE. Controlled studies do not

Buy Cheap Tramadol - Wellbutrin articles, support groups, and resources for patients from Med Help International (www.medhelp.org)
Buy Cheap Tramadol usa health store is your online source for Phentermine, Adipex-P, Meridia, Xenical, and other prescription medications.

Buy Paxil Online - Nasonex and Rhinocort Aqua Now Non-Preferred Drugs
Buy Paxil Online fighting boy - A shrine and fanlisting to Sohma Kyou of the popular shoujo anime & manga, Fruits Basket.

Buy Tramadol - Nasonex, Nasonex Side Effects, Nasonex. Mometasone is a topical glucocorticosteroid with local anti-inflammatory properties at doses that are minimally systemically active. Mometasone, administered as a nasal spray, has negligible (Ł 0.1%) systemic bioavailability and is generally undetectable in plasma, despite the use of a sensitive assay with a lower quantitation limit of 50 pg/mL; thus, there are no relevant pharmacokinetic data for this dosage form. Mometasone suspension is very poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, and the small amount that may be swallowed and absorbed undergoes extensive first-pass metabolism prior to excretion in urine and bile.

Buy Tramadol Greetings, fellow authors! I look forward to seeing your profiles as well. Maybe we can talk sometime! I study weight loss, exercise, and train in mixed martial arts including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai. I maintain several health and fitness websites to help people who are ready to give up on their weight loss journey. My goal is to teach poor dieters how to use a diet pill as a tool to change their habits. When I’m

Buy Viagra Online - The Fireside Forum at DesignCommunity.com, an open discussion area for DesignCommunity participants and related topics.
Buy Viagra Online Buy soma seeds online at THC and experience the aura effects and high of soma. Marijuana cannabis seed strains include NYCD citralah hazeilla soma shiva and free tibet

Viagra Cialis Buy Cheap Online - Medication or drug interactions causing symptom Muscle symptoms as side effects or complications of treatment.
Viagra Cialis Buy Cheap Online Easy ordering process, Buy Diazepam here with no effort. Cheap Diazepam that everyone can buy. Online Order Diazepam and get discount now. Quality Generic Diazepam here. Professional Online service, overnight shipping and fast delivering.

Order Norvasc - Solid information about Evista Watches at Evista
Order Norvasc The Seasonale pills are a prescription birth control medicine that you can buy from the online pharmacy.

Buy Viagra Online - Was Kurt Cobain of Nirvana Murdered? Read police documents, listen to recorded conversations between Courtney Love & Tom Grant, watch video of media coverage. Find out why many believe this suicide was really a homicide.
Buy Viagra Online Occidental Allegro Punta Cana, Punta Cana: See 586 traveler reviews, 465 candid photos, and great deals for Occidental Allegro Punta Cana, ranked #41 of 56 hotels in Punta Cana and rated 3.5 of 5 at TripAdvisor.

Adipex drugs - Evista, Evista Side Effects, Evista. Raloxifene is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) that belongs to the benzothiophene class of compounds. The SERM profile of raloxifene includes estrogen agonist effects on bone and lipid metabolism but not in uterine or breast tissues.

Adipex drugs Find out how taking Soma can help relieve muscle pain associated with injuries.

Cheap Tadalafil -
Cheap Tadalafil claritin reditabs, claritin hives, birth claritin control interaction

Carisoprodol Cheap - Bar Glassware: Product information, price comparisons and user reviews and ratings for Bar Glassware.
Carisoprodol Cheap Order Fioricet and Butalbital Online. FDA approved drugs. We offer a Free consultation to all clients by US Licensed Physician.

Ultram price - body focuses on common health concerns and living a more healthy life
Ultram price Lipitor class action lawsuits expand; Pfizer cover-up alleged

discount Celexa - Epinions has the best comparison shopping information on Epinions.com - Before you applaud the idea of OTC Claritin…. Compare prices from across the web and read reviews from other consumers on Epinions.com - Before you applaud the idea of OTC Claritin… before you decide to buy.
discount Celexa lorazepam, ativan, viagra generic drug, drug viagra, medicine viagra pills, medicine viagra pills, viagra cialis levitra, drug levitra, levitra medicine, medicine levitra, sexual drug, sexual drugs manufacturer, supplier, exporter, factorymanufacturer, supplier, exporter, factory,

Order Cheap Phentermine Online - Patient medical question and answer from The Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Forum. Health topic area and articles about urethritis - nongonococcal (ngu) Topics: NGU, nongonococcal urethritis,amoxicillin, chlamydia.
Order Cheap Phentermine Online Buy Tramadol - Lowest Prices, Best Info! EASTER Discounts. Save money 35-50%. Buy Tramadol prescription by getting cheap Tramadol online.

buy cheap levitra - Link exchanges now available on any G Rated topics
buy cheap levitra The fastest, simplest & permanent solution to anxiety disorder for sufferers and their families

Buy Cheap Phentermine online - Hotetur Dorado Club Resort, Puerto Plata: See 82 traveler reviews, 82 candid photos, and great deals for Hotetur Dorado Club Resort, ranked #32 of 55 hotels in Puerto Plata and rated 3.5 of 5 at TripAdvisor.
Buy Cheap Phentermine online Yasmin Bodrum Resort, Turgutreis: See 21 traveler reviews, 9 candid photos, and great deals for Yasmin Bodrum Resort, ranked #11 of 31 hotels in Turgutreis and rated 3.5 of 5 at TripAdvisor.

BUY Cialis - Doxycycline hyclate, Doryx, Doxy-Caps, Doxy-Tabs, Vibramycin, and Vibra-Tabs
BUY Cialis Overnight Delivery,

paxil - and treatment are also described.
paxil consultation by a US Licensed Physician.

Buy zyrtec - Are you looking for buying Zanaflex online? Visit our online drug store in Canada to buy Zanaflex online.
Buy zyrtec Onlinepharmacymd.com has immediate delivery of FDA approved online pharmacy medicines, such as Tramadol, Soma, Fioricet and Levitra plus many more, all of them are available to you online, 24×7.

Online Pharmacy - Get answers to important questions about osteoporosis, what EVISTA is, and how it works to prevent and treat osteoporosis in women past menopause.
Online Pharmacy Gold-RX.com offers generic Paxil pills online. No prescription. Free and fast shipping. Buy cheap Paroxitine online.

Online Pharmacy Viagra - Patient medical question and answer from The Addiction Forum. Health topic area and articles about smoking Topics: ,.
Online Pharmacy Viagra Is the pounding in your head from a tension headache, a cluster headache, or a migraine? Learn what type of headache you have, as well as its causes, symptoms, and treatment. Take the free RealAge Headache Health Assessment for personalized pain relief and health advice.

Compare Our Price - Norphar.com - We ship Norvasc & from our licensed Canadaian Pharmacies at substantial savings to U.S. patients.
Compare Our Price Canadian Pharmacy.Order Loratadine and many other medications online at a discount price through our fully licensed Canadian pharmacy. We ship to the U.S.

Carisoprodol - Environmental stress factors associated with such sites can favor certain infectious diseases. Leaf Blight and Stem Canker of Pachysandra Leaf and st
Carisoprodol imitrex prescription, imitrex drug, imitrex and pregnancy

Cheap Adipex - Buy Lamisil - Lowest Prices, Save On Your Prescription Medications, Purchase Buy Lamisil From Our Discount Online Pharmacy. No Prior Prescription Required, US Based Pharmacy, US Licensed Doctors.
Cheap Adipex Atrophic gastritis and helicobacter pylori infection in patients with reflux esophagitis treated with omeprazole or fundoplication. N Engl J Med 1996;334:1018-22. Journal Club on the Web

Cialis VS Viagra - Away.com offers detailed information on Rendezvous Allegra Hotel Adelaide for your next trip to Prospect. Read a review, view the amenities, see the location and book a room.
Cialis VS Viagra Get the smoking cessation medication Zyban online - Buy Zyban online . Orders can be made on-line. Delivery to the USA, UK and World-wide.

sale Propecia - Elavil / Endep (generic name amitriptyline) is a tricyclic antidepressant sometimes prescribed for the treatment of depression associated with bipolar disorder (manic depression). Found here are resources and information relating to this medication.
sale Propecia GOODYEAR ALLEGRA ~ Find allegra beck ~ allegra beck ~ allegra de vita ~ online allegra ~ allegra 24 ~ online allegra. And many MORE

Friendly Reminder

Let as many people as possible know about this crucial issue!!!

Media diversity is the cornerstone of democracy. But media ownership is more highly concentrated in Canada than almost anywhere else in the industrialized world. Almost all private Canadian television stations are owned by national media conglomerates and, because of increasing cross-ownership, most of the daily newspapers we read are owned by the same corporations that own television and radio stations.

This means a handful of Big Media Conglomerates control what Canadians can most readily see, hear and read. It means less local and regional content, more direct control over content by owners and less analysis of the events that shape our lives. It also means less media choice for Canadians and fewer jobs for Canadian media workers.

We must also be wary of the impacts mergers have on the diversity and neutrality of new on-line media. We need to reverse this trend before big media gets even bigger!

Tell the CRTC what you think: http://democraticmedia.ca/act

_DJ_

Friday Fun Link - If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today? (July 13, 2007)

The author of the popular Freakonomics book looks at the question, “If public libraries didn’t exist, could you start one today?

“But here’s the point I’m (finally) getting to: if there was no such thing today as the public library and someone like Bill Gates proposed to establish them in cities and towns across the U.S. (much like Andrew Carnegie once did), what would happen?

I am guessing there would be a huge pushback from book publishers. Given the current state of debate about intellectual property, can you imagine modern publishers being willing to sell one copy of a book and then have the owner let an unlimited number of strangers borrow it? I don’t think so.”

He doesn’t bring it up but I wonder if an analogy could be made to bit torrent sites today? One person buys a legitimate copy and then others are able to obtain a free copy. The only difference is that instead of dozens of uses as for popular library items, bit torrent allows thousands of copies to be downloaded. The other big difference is that bit torrent tends to focus on movies, music and TV shows that don’t have the history of “free” borrowing like books in a library do. And of course, you don’t have to “return” a digital copy.

It’s not a perfect analogy but the similarities are there.

(via Reddit)

Oh, and in a semi-related story, a PhD candidate in economics contends that the optimal length of copyright in today’s digital age is…fourteen years. (via Boing Boing)

- JH

It’s Fair Use Day!

“We have had a big fairuse year to date. With EMI dropping DRM from their music catalog and Apple agreeing to sell it, the take down of AACS protection and its continuing battle against ‘the bad guys’, to the still ongoing debate over net neutrality. It has been a turbulent year with many small victories along the way. There is still a long way to go to ensure that our rights remain with us as the recent stories about ATT with their claims that a non-neutral net needs less bandwidth have shown. So keep copying, keep making parodies, and keep expressing your rights”.

_DJ_

LPL: More on Internet Filtering

Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries posted a comment on this blog to Roma Harris’ letter to the London Public Library. He also responded to a copy of Sam Trosow’s letter that was posted to the LibraryLaw Blog. I’m reposting comments here that I added there.

Mr. Kleinman’s summary of the “Final Adjudication” of the ACLU v. Gonzales case is blatantly incorrect. Kleinman wrote: “ACLU expert and court agrees Internet filters are about 95% effective.” There is one mention of 95% in the Final Adjudication and it is on page 35: “Based upon the testimony of Dr. Cranor, which I accept, I find that filters generally block about 95% of sexually explicit material. Cranor Testimony, 10/24 Tr. 55:8-23.”

Ninety-five percent of sexually-explicit content is very different from “Internet filters are about 95% effective.” Ninety-five percent of sexually-explicit material filtered out provides no measure of overblocking — that statistic on its own does not in any way suggest that blocking of health information is NOT taking place! Nor does it address any of the issues about access for “women, GLBTQ populations, radical thinkers, dissenters, suspect communities, women, the girl-child, and so on” as outlined by Dr. Toni Samek.

The “pure arrogance” (see here) of librarians who would reject having a ballot question to address Internet filtering is misdirected. Any comment that someone is “not sophisticated” enough to have a valid opinion is of course arrogant — but that library administrator’s comment doesn’t address the issue at hand and to suggest it was the single and full response to Mr. Kleinman’s proposal for a referendum on filtering software undermines the argument. In what cases does a referendum decide what goes and what doesn’t go? Do we vote on rights? I don’t think Internet filtering should be decided by a majority vote by the public. Just as I don’t think there should have been a vote on if we should say the Lord’s prayer in public schools or if people should have access to universal medical care or if we should send equalization payments to Atlantic Canada. Likewise, intellectual freedom is not something we vote on: it’s part of the rights package we’re handed for being humans (with privileges, of course — universal human rights are many things but universal).

I think it’s far more arrogant to install a filter than it is to give members of the public the tools with which to analyze the information they get over the Internet and ensure their children are protected from online predators. It’s also arrogant of Mr. Kleinman to misquote a court decision.

Filters block access to information. As the Brenner Centre for Justice concluded in its 2006 revision of its 2001 Internet Filters: A Public Policy Report: “Despite the superficial appeal of filters, they are not a solution to concerns about pornography or other questionable content online. Internet training, sex education, and media literacy are the best ways to protect the next generation.”

Mr. Kleinman also writes: says, “What’s improper is that librarians do no work harder to make available at least portions of over seven eighths of the Internet.” Yeah well — we’re too damn busy trying to protect access to that first eighth.

-SIO

Video on Big Media in Canada

Hey all — please don’t forget to take two minutes to ask the CRTC to break down some of the ultra-concentrated media in this country! You have until July 18.

-SIO

Dr. Roma Harris’ letter to the LPL Board

Dr. Roma Harris has graciously shared a copy of the letter she sent to the London Public Library board to request delegation status for their June 20 meeting. At this meeting, the board discussed the library’s move to install filtering software on the majority of its adult public-access computers. Drs. Roma Harris and Sam Trosow were both granted delegation status. You can read all about this issue in posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

I was in Edmonton yesterday for some training and while the trainer union-bashed I read parts of Alvin Schrader’s book Fear of Words: Censorship and the Public Libraries of Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1995). His study was based on a survey he sent to public libraries asking for information about their local policies and procedures around challenged books and intellectual freedom. He cites Lester Asheim who in 1953, as dean of the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago, delivered a paper on intellectual freedom to the American Library Association’s Second Conference on Intellectual Freedom. In this “landmark” paper, (”Not Censorship But Selection” first published in the Wilson Library Bulletin, 28 (September 1953), 63-67, now on the ALA website), Asheim wrote:

Selection, then, begins with a presumption in favor of liberty of thought; censorship, with a presumption in favor of thought control. Selection’s approach to the book is positive, seeking its values in the book as a book, and in the book as a whole. Censorship’s approach is negative, seeking for vulnerable characteristics wherever they can be found—anywhere within the book, or even outside it. Selection seeks to protect the right of the reader to read; censorship seeks to protect—not the right—but the reader himself from the fancied effects of his reading. The selector has faith in the intelligence of the reader; the censor has faith only in his own.

The principle is true for Internet filtering, no? Filtering software is a tool for thought control and it has no faith in the intelligence of the Internet user. And librarians who install filtering software (especially on adult computers!) have no faith in the intelligence of their patrons. I reckon “internet filters” should be renamed “internet blinders” because they make whole parts of the Internet invisible. A filter is too benign a word when intellectual freedom is at stake.

Lester Asheim also said, “I still believe that the best solution to the problem of access is to add positively to the store of ideas, not negatively to reduce it” (cited in Schrader 14).

-SIO

**********

June 15, 2007

Secretary
London Public Library Board
251 Dundas Street
London, Ontario
N6A 6H9

Dear Secretary to the Board:

I am writing to request delegate status at the next meeting of the Board so that I might express my concerns about the proposal to increase the level of filtering of public access computers at the London Public Library. I’m aware that filtering software is already in use for computers in areas of the library where children’s services are delivered. However, I’m concerned that extending the use of filtering technology to computers used by adults may inadvertently limit access to some websites that are relevant to users who are in search of health information.

For several years I have been a member of an international team of researchers who are studying how people search for and use health information. Our work is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I am also the lead investigator of a research project that is exploring how people living with HIV/AIDS, their family members and health care providers, exchange information about the disease in rural communities. This work is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Briefly, research about health information-seeking shows that lay people rely heavily on the Internet to look for health information. For instance, among the 90% of all North American 15-24 year olds who have ever searched online, 75% have searched for health information, almost more than any other single use. Half have looked for information about a specific disease, such as cancer or diabetes, and 44% have looked up information online about pregnancy, birth control, HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases.

Almost inevitably, looking online for health information will lead searchers to some sites that are pornographic because health-related searches are about the human body. Although content control or ‘filtering’ software is intended to block access to objectionable websites, the practice of filtering is imprecise, no matter which products are used. A major concern is whether filtering systems result in ‘overblocking’, i.e., blocking of legitimate websites because the filter incorrectly classifies them as inappropriate. Health information is particularly vulnerable to overblocking because the terms used to conduct the search refer to parts of the body and because lay searchers may not always refer to their body parts using medical terminology and may rely instead on colloquial language. Philip Start, a Professor of Statistics at the University of California at Berkeley reports that, “generally, if a filter blocks more of the sexually explicit websites, it will block more of the clean websites” (http://ice.citizenlab.org/mirror/copa-censorware-stark-report.pdf).

The public library can be a very important point of access for people in search of health information, particularly for those who do not have home computers or private access to the Internet. Because of the sensitivities often associated with health concerns, particularly those related to sexually transmitted diseases, sexual practices, and sexual orientation, people searching for information about these topics are very unlikely to look to library staff for help in locating information sources and they are also unlikely to alert staff if they find themselves blocked from accessing ‘questionnable’ websites. I respect the staff of the London Public Library and I realize that they have taken a number of steps to apply the intended software in ways that are only moderately restrictive. However, because one of the categories of material to be blocked is ‘pornography’, I remain concerned about the potential impact on legitimate users of the library. Research on internet filtering suggests that the sites most likely to be blocked by even moderate attempts to filter pornography are those concerned with sexual health and women’s health.

For these reasons, I request that Board members weigh carefully whether the public library’s role as the community’s only ‘neutral’ source of information is endangered by the censoring effects of filtering software. I appreciate that filtering is appropriate in children’s sections of the library. However, restricting access by adult users who rely on the public access computers because passersby might be uncomfortable about what appears on the screens is worrisome. I recommend that efforts be renewed to reconsider the physical arrangements of the unfiltered public access computers to reduce the likelihood that passersby will be ‘subjected’ to unpleasant images or, at the very least, that a larger number of unfiltered machines be made available and that access to these machines be made easy, in an unstigmatized fashion, and that availability to these machines not require any staff intervention.

Thank you for considering my concerns.

Sincerely,
Roma Harris, Ph.D.
Professor Faculty of Information & Media Studies
The University of Western Ontario