Filtering out anything gay

From the blog Pam's House Blend:


Filtering out anything gay
by: Jerry Maneker
Mon Jul 23, 2007 at 00:44:01 AM EDT

Don Charles, previously known as Stuffed Animal, alerted me to the fact that when he tried to access my blog, A Christian Voice For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Rights, from his local library, it was inaccessible.

He wrote me, "At my local library, access to your blog had been blocked; it was labeled as a 'porno' site. I petitioned to have it unblocked and requested to know why it had been so labeled. Here's the reply that I got today:"

"The filtering software required by the federal government automatically blocked this site. After reviewing it, we unblocked it."

First of all, if the reason the library gave to him, before they did unblock the blog after his request for an explanation for the fact that it was blocked in the first place, is true, it calls into question the whole issue of freedom of speech, to say nothing of "censorship!"

Of course, I understand the need for a filtering device which blocks out Internet pornography from public libraries to which children have access. However, the only way that this particular site is likely to have been blocked by any filtering device is because it has in its title the word "Gay."

The fact that the words "Christian" and "Rights" also are in the title of this blog wouldn't be the likely reason that this blog would be flagged by any filtering system.

I wonder how many other blogs and websites are inaccessible to the pubic merely because of the fact that "filtering software required by the federal government" prohibits such access?

Moreover, if the reason for the government-mandated filtering software that the Reference Librarian at Don Charles' public library attributed to the blocking of this blog (and perhaps many other blogs and websites as well) is due to its being flagged as "pornographic" because of the fact that the word "Gay" appears in its title, we see another indication of the revulsion that exists among people who program such filtering devices toward anything "Gay!" .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2394

The same story came out earlier about sites that dealt with breast cancer being blocked because of the word "breast".

Unless one does a site-by-site individual listing, this is going to happen. There are limits to technology, and humans are real good at subverting it. Which is why we win over machines every single time in real life (chess, checkers, and other mechanical programs are NOT real life).

Hell, it was the standard plot device in Star Trek (if poorly understood and handled very badly at times).

How sites are categorized can be very arbitrary. No great conspiracy here - it is very labor intensive to check out and categorize sites properly.

The problem is assuming the web blocker is correct and using its categorization as your policy - "it was blocked, therefore you can't access the site"

Another problem is that blocking software companies do not like publishing the list of blocked sites - they claim doing so will just make it easier to evade, and that the list is a trade secret. No public entity should practice censorship based on a list compiled by a 3rd party that is not subject to open review.

exactly what software that is and also ask for references to the federal law that requires it.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm