Wednesday, September 9, 2009

West Bend Library Board refuses to filter computers - responds to complaint via media

...In today's post, Ginny Maziarka goes off on the fact that the library doesn't want to apply for CIPA funding, which would also require them to install Internet filters. (I'll provide commentary at Sleepless later today)...

14 comments:

  1. I just left this comment, we'll see if it gets through the filter:

    Respectfully, you seem to be twisting this to fit your mission. The library didn't respond "via the media". Rather, they responded by openly discussing and voting on the request during their public board meeting. Did you attend?

    The media was present, and asked Tyree some questions after the meeting, and then published a story...which is what newspapers do.

    Also, I fear you are misunderstanding how CIPA/E-Rate works. You don't "apply for CIPA funds", you apply for the E-Rate program in order to provide low-cost Internet. If you use E-Rate funding, then CIPA comes into effect, requiring the use of Internet filters.

    The library decided it didn't need the E-Rate program.

    If you want to have Internet filters, perhaps you should suggest a solution that doesn't require the library apply for Federal funds it doesn't need.

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  2. "Uh huh. So who are you telling the truth to, Mike? Us? Or the paper? IF there was anything we got out of our meeting with Tyree, it was that he had bigger fish to fry with people viewing porn on the internet. Hmmmm...."

    Wow Ginny. Ever consider maybe even the BIGGEST fish that needs frying at the WB Library is still a super tiny fish?

    Ginny dear, what makes you think you know how to better run a library than someone who went to school for it and has years of experience? Were it left to you the library would end up looking like some kind of Christian bookstore. Why don't you and Jimmy just open one up and leave us all alone?

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  3. And also if $40 worth of phone calls is all she could find.... Ginny, have you ever made a call from a hotel room? They can be insanely expensive.

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  4. Submitted this comment to Ginny:

    If you REALLY, in your Christian heart, believe the library is full of porn why don't you just call the police? Distributing it to minors is illegal you know. If there is any porn in the library that would be the quickest and most effective way of getting it out of there and PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN! Somehow tho, that doesn't seem to really be your concern...

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  5. My own opinion is that SOME kind of internet filtering is inevitable in West Bend, although we probably wouldn’t agree on the details. Regardless of the details, you’re not helping to get filters implemented. If anything, you’re slowing the process down by injecting mythology into the debate and haranguing the library staff into a position of resistance.
    The first thing you need to get clear on is the difference between filters for children and filters for adults. Your anti-sexual focus blinds you to the fact that porn is only one aspect of filters for children, since for them it is at least as important that the filter prevent them from revealing personal information online or from being contacted by possible online predators. Preventing adults from accessing porn is not the same thing as protecting children from online predators.
    When it comes to filters for adults, you are not being realistic about what they will accomplish. The CIPA itself requires that adults have the right to unblock the computer they are using on demand, and the library would actually be breaking the law by failing to unblock on demand. Filters, then, will NOT prevent adult patrons from accessing pornography. Even with filters in place, preventing adult access to porn comes down to the library policy. THE WEST BEND LIBRARY ALREADYS HAS THAT POLICY IN PLACE!
    The library staff, who have actually studied this matter, raise a quite valid point about patron-owned laptops. Patrons can bring their own laptop to the library and connect to the internet by means of the library’s wireless network. Such computers will NOT be filtered, even if the library is bound by the rules of the CIPA. Here again, IT IS THE LIBRARY POLICY, NOT THE FILTERS, THAT WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE.
    Why then do you ignore the fact that THE LIBRARY IS ALREADY DOING AS MUCH AS THE CIPA OR FILTERS WILL EVER ACCOMPLISH!
    You are correct in claiming that filters are highly effective in a technical sense, but you overstate their technical accuracy. ALL filters have some degree of under-blocking – allowing porn to pass through – and over-blocking – interfering with access to legally accessible sites. Of these, the over-blocking is the larger problem, and that is one of the reasons the CIPA requires libraries to allow patrons to bypass filters.
    Finally, your characterization of the ALA fund for legal challenges to the CIPA is inaccurate. That fund is to pay for the legal costs that were (in the past) expended in the challenge to the CIPA that the ALA lost. It is not about future challenges: the Supreme Court has ruled, there’s nowhere else to appeal to. The ALA is not the problem here.

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  6. Ginny - what's up with the "ChildPornography" tag? Are you suggesting that there is child pornography in the library? Surly you know the difference between "Child Pornography" and children having access to pornography? Nope... didn't think so.

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  7. Sorry about the formatting in my comment above -- it lost some paragraph breaks during the cut and paste.

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  8. Hey...just a thought...rather than call this site WISSUP uncensored, maybe you could call it
    the "I am obsessed with Ginny site and blog about her 24/7"...get a life!

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  9. Then I guess Ginny should cal hers "I am obsessed with oppressing homosexuals and orr's and blog about them 24/7"

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  10. The use of ellipses gives Ginny away...people who can't complete a.... thought use them....all the time...yeah, thought so!

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  11. The Nightmare of Christianity By Max Blumenthal
    September 9, 2009
    http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/blumenthal

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  12. When will Ginny realize she is not smart enough for these fights?

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  13. She's really gone batshit with this one:

    http://wissup.blogspot.com/2009/09/library-director-special-guest-of-aclu.html

    Should be fun when that one is posted here.

    Hope someone is archiving all of her posts.

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