4664 Successfully Petition for Filters on Public Library Computers

Public library board members like to say petitions are irrelevant, don't even bother. I was once told the public is "too unsophisticated" anyway.

Apparently, that's false. Please read "People Power Forces Porn Filter," by Nikkii Joyce, Sunshine Coast Daily, 18 August 2009.

Here are choice quotes, emphasis mine:

Community anger and a petition signed by 4664 people have forced the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to take action to install internet filters to block pornography at public libraries.

Mayor Bob Abbot has admitted the strength of the petition and an increasingly vocal public pushed the council into a corner.

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“That is what a petition is for, to give council an indication of community feel and when the petition first came round it gave us that feel so we kept on with the process,” he said.

“The problem we faced is making a decision without the information,” Mr Abbot said.

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Councillor Anna Grosskreutz, who has supported the campaign from the start, said a closed forum held in the morning was brief and to the point.

“There are many things that are being eroded and people and families are losing the ability to choose what they want to see or what they want their children to see, so this is a wonderful result,” she said.

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FYI, here are more library crime and filtering stories from Australia's Sunshine Coast.

Has your library said petitions or public input are practically irrelevant? Add a comment to let others know.

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IT Experts Say Library Filtering Easy to Configure

Information technology experts have said providing public libraries with an effective Internet filtering solution is a snap. Further, concerns about overblocking can be easily overcome, and any anti-filtering stance is "behind the times." See "IT Experts Could Foil Library Porn Pervs," by Mark Bode, Sunshine Coast Daily, 7 August 2009, emphasis mine:

A brainstorming session between a group of Sunshine Coast IT experts yesterday has yielded what they claim would be a powerful tool in the fight against those using public library computers to access porn.

The nine Microsoft-certified technicians from the Kunda Park-based company EH Technology want Sunshine Coast council to consider implementing a filter-firewall technology called a sonic wall.

EH Technology business development manager Adam MacLennan said the content security management application would prove a potent foil against those who use public libraries to view or download pornography – including offensive child images.

Council has previously said it was against installing internet filters at libraries because it would result in inoffensive sites being blocked.

However, Mr MacLennan said his team could install a system which would allow library staff to easily unblock inoffensive sites if asked to do so by a patron. “We can set it up the way council wants,” he said.

Mr MacLennan said many companies – including his own – successfully used internet filters and firewalls to stop staff from accessing certain websites.

The Scottish-born computer expert said council’s anti-filter stance at its libraries was “behind the times”.

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Is your public library "behind the times"?

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Australia Going to Mandatory Filtering

"Australia Going to Mandatory Filtering," by David Burt, FilteringFacts.org, 14 October 2008, reports the following:

Australia’s long, winding path of national filtering has finally taken the country to a two-tier structure of mandatory filtering by ISPs, ComputerWorld reports:

Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government’s pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say. Under the government’s $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material. Internode network engineer Mark Newton said many users falsely believe the opt-out proviso will remove content filtering. ”Users can opt-out of the ‘additional material’ blacklist (referred to in a department press release, which is a list of things unsuitable for children, but there is no opt-out for ‘illegal content’”, Newton said. ”Illegal is illegal and if there is infrastructure in place to block it, then it will be required to be blocked - end of story.”

As I’ve pointed out earlier, “mandatory opt out filtering” is something that will likely increase in democratic regimes, as Japan has recently considered it as well. And the practices of blocking all child porn sites with no opt-out is already widespread in Europe, and most likely will eventually find its way to the United States. And that will lead to a very interesting battle at the US Supreme Court.

–David Burt