Politics: The Supreme Court This Morning
I'm just now getting to catch my breath after my morning's insanity regarding several of the Supreme Court cases decided today. (Blah blah, my work leaves me with a vested interest in the outcomes of several major cases.)
I've got to say, I'm very disappointed in the Court's decision on ALA v. US. (Early reporting is available on the case here and I suppose, if you're insane, you can read the opinions here.)
There are certain things I had come to believe about our society. I thought for sure that in the end, this restriction on what free-thinking adults can come in contact with in a public library would be struck down. I joke that I'm out of step with the American public, but I have spoken again and again with regular people on both sides of the ideological spectrum and I ask them about this case, and they don't think that Congress should be able to do this.
Ask someone who has used the internet content filters in their home, and they will tell you how funny it is that some things get stopped and others don't. They will joke about how their spam-filter, which uses similar technology, will block three pictures of your aunt's new cat, but won't somehow stop 9 our of 10 penis-enhancement emails from finding their way into your inbox.
But this law stipulates that if libraries want to receive federal funds (without which many libraries would go broke) they have to use these crappy, low-tech internet blocks on their public internet access computers. They can turn them off if a user asks -- but that user must be an adult, and must wish to accept an obstacle to their internet activity. A teenager who wants to understand, say, a sexual abuse to which they've been subject, or who wants to research a loved one's disease would run into a filter and could not have that filter removed.
Similarly, the very concept of the library as a place where information flows freely, where people are free to seek knowledge, is severely damaged by this decision. When I was a kid, I spent hours in the library. I still experience a thrill when I enter the public library in my hometown, thinking immediately of the wonder that all these books and newspapers and magazines and information are available at my fingertips.
Now that just isn't the case. The government has put a blind minder at the helm of our last standing pillar of free expression and free inquiry. Mourn your loss.
I'm just now getting to catch my breath after my morning's insanity regarding several of the Supreme Court cases decided today. (Blah blah, my work leaves me with a vested interest in the outcomes of several major cases.)
I've got to say, I'm very disappointed in the Court's decision on ALA v. US. (Early reporting is available on the case here and I suppose, if you're insane, you can read the opinions here.)
There are certain things I had come to believe about our society. I thought for sure that in the end, this restriction on what free-thinking adults can come in contact with in a public library would be struck down. I joke that I'm out of step with the American public, but I have spoken again and again with regular people on both sides of the ideological spectrum and I ask them about this case, and they don't think that Congress should be able to do this.
Ask someone who has used the internet content filters in their home, and they will tell you how funny it is that some things get stopped and others don't. They will joke about how their spam-filter, which uses similar technology, will block three pictures of your aunt's new cat, but won't somehow stop 9 our of 10 penis-enhancement emails from finding their way into your inbox.
But this law stipulates that if libraries want to receive federal funds (without which many libraries would go broke) they have to use these crappy, low-tech internet blocks on their public internet access computers. They can turn them off if a user asks -- but that user must be an adult, and must wish to accept an obstacle to their internet activity. A teenager who wants to understand, say, a sexual abuse to which they've been subject, or who wants to research a loved one's disease would run into a filter and could not have that filter removed.
Similarly, the very concept of the library as a place where information flows freely, where people are free to seek knowledge, is severely damaged by this decision. When I was a kid, I spent hours in the library. I still experience a thrill when I enter the public library in my hometown, thinking immediately of the wonder that all these books and newspapers and magazines and information are available at my fingertips.
Now that just isn't the case. The government has put a blind minder at the helm of our last standing pillar of free expression and free inquiry. Mourn your loss.
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