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L.A.C.K. & Censoround
February 28, 2002
SSSCA, File Room, chilling effects, Grammys
The new issue of Library Juice features information on both the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act and the USA PATRIOT Act. If you've been meaning to brush up your knowledge on either of these topics (especially since the debate on SSSCA opens today), here's a good chance to do so.
The Juice also mentions a Web site called The File Room, which tracks cases of censorship of everything from Judy Blume to Socrates.
Marylaine Block linked to an excellent resource called Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, which tracks online intellectual property issues. For example, check out what the site has to say about fan fiction.
Did you watch the Grammys last night? Of course you didn't. And here's the likely reason why.
[TT] via Library Juice
[TT] via Marylaine Block via Shifted Librarian
[TT] Fox News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
7:39:16 PM
February 27, 2002
Florida filter law update
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
7:44:00 PM
February 26, 2002
"USA PATRIOT Act v. Freedom of Information Act" O-Rama!
Today's posting is called "USA PATRIOT Act v. Freedom of Information Act" O-Rama!
First off, James Quinn of Library Underground forwarded to the LU mailing list an article about how the USA PATRIOT Act may turn colleges into Big Brother.
New York Governor George Pataki has put restrictions on the state's Freedom of Information Act to prevent terrorism. Of course, this is completely in compliance with how John Ashcroft is running the Department of Justice these days.
Speaking of New York, a librarian at SUNY Oswego has put restrictions on government information, which has thrown her into hot water with the Government Printing Office, even tho the GPO has been doing some restricting themselves.
Speaking of which, there are presently 30 bills in Congress aimed at redefining and restricting the Freedom of Information Act.
One aspect of the USA PATRIOT Act I can't harp on enough is the part where bookstores can be forced to turn over purchase records to government officials.
So the real reason so many conservative religous groups (like the ones presently in Congress and the Bush administration) want filters in libraries so badly? Because they pretty much own the filtering companies. (I'm overstating slightly, but it's still a very interesting report.)
Parents of students at a Canandaigua, NY high school are objecting to The Sweet Hereafter as a homework assignment. Interestingly, the 9th and 10th graders needed to get their respective parents' permission to read the book.
And of course, this posting wouldn't be complete without an editorial about how the entertainment industry has Congress doing their bidding.
[TT] Chronicle of Higher Education via Library Underground
[TT] New York Times via Virtual Chase
[TT] Chronicle of Higher Education via Virtual Chase
[TT] Washington Post via Virtual Chase
[TT] via LibraryPlanet.com
[TT] Responsible Netizen via LibraryPlanet.com
[TT] Daily Messenger via LISNews.com
[TT] Arizona Daily Star via Shifted Librarian
[EDITOR'S NOTE] I removed a username and password to the New York Times from this post.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
7:47:00 PM
February 25, 2002
Guide to Household Pests
I've renamed the "Harry Potter Porn" page to "Guide to Household Pests," which is a bit innocuous, but is an actual Harry Potter reference, and appropro considering how some parents find the books annoying.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:19:47 PM
February 21, 2002
Free speech, librarian babysitters, yet more Sonny Bono
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has put up a web page about the state of free speech since September 11.
A mother in Westerville, OH is claiming that her teenager is the library's responsibility when she leaves him there by himself, so they're responsible for the fact he uses their computers to surf for porn. The library, by the way, does have federally-required Web filters.
Can't get enough of info about the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act? Read this editorial.
[TT] Electronic Frontier Foundation via Library Juice
[TT] nbc4i.com via LISNews.com
[TT] SiliconValley.com via Shifted Librarian
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
7:58:42 PM
February 20, 2002
More on Florida's filtering law, more Sonny Bono
Why yes, I am going to link to more stuff about the pending Florida filtering legislation! This time, it's an anti-filtering editorial from the Tampa Tribune!
Good ol' The Virtual Chase has some more information on the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
[TT] Tampa Tribune via LISNews.com
[TT] Virtual Chase
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:03:00 PM
February 19, 2002
Big brother and the Harry Potter witholding country
Cisco is helping China censor the web.
Thankfully, that won't happen here. Right? Right? Right?
Okay, perhaps I'm overstating slightly, but what the hey.
Hey, so in a rare pang of guilt, I will be changing the name of "Harry Potter Porn" shortly, altho I don't know to what yet. Anyway, until then, the United Arab Emerites has banned Harry Potter, amongst other books.
[TT] Weekly Standard via Library Stuff
[TT] Law.com
[TT] Shifted Librarian
[TT] New York Times
[TT] The Star Online via LISNews.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:08:53 PM
February 18, 2002
USA PATRIOT Act, cyberlaw
Mary Minow from Library Law is, with both this LLRX article and an article mentioned here earlier, fast becoming an expert on the USA PATRIOT Act.
The Village Voice also has an article on this subject.
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood have an excellent cyberlaw resource, including an article on privacy due diligence published in BNA's Electronic Commerce & Law Report.
Speaking of e-commerce & cyberlaw, I previously linked to an article about the British company that claimed to hold the patent on hyperlinking. The Guardian has an article on BT's claim.
Cops in South Bend, IN are checking out books as a form of protest.
[TT] LLRX.com
[TT] Village Voice via librarian.net
[TT] Electronic Commerce & Law Report via CyberLaw@Sidley
[TT] MediaGuardian.co.uk
[TT] via LibraryPlanet.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:13:00 PM
February 15, 2002
Illinois library tests out filters
Freeport, IL is testing web filters for effectiveness before installing them on their computers. Very sensible, if you ask me. If they need some search terms to look up, I have tons.
[TT] Journal-Standard via Library Stuff
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:19:27 PM
February 14, 2002
Florida filter law update, Harry Potter and e-books
Yes, there's even more on Florida's pending filtering legislation! TJ from Library Geek forwarded me a pro-filtering editorial from the Florida Times Union, which I will quote: "Censorship is when government refuses to let people buy certain material, not when it refuses to provide the material for free." Even in context, this makes no sense.
Since there are an increasing number of site hits to L.A.C.K. from variations on the search term "fifth Harry Potter book," I'm going to link to this article about how J.K. Rowling publishing the tentatively-titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as an e-book would save the e-book industry. Like it's something worth saving.
[TT] Florida Times Union via Library Geek
[TT] SFGate.com via Shifted Librarian
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:21:00 PM
February 13, 2002
Big Brother is watching
Big Brother: it's not just an awful TV show, it's a way of life. Ask any bookstore owner who's forced to hand over customer buying info in the name of the law. This will likely become more common during the present high security state.
Oh well, at least you're still free to read in Canada.
Of course, if you really want to get all paranoid, you can read way into the latest user-tracking software development. You just know this is the type of software the music industry wants to perfect.
Speaking of the entertainment industry being all jerks and stuff, television studios are arguing that ReplayTV violates copyright because they record shows by genre or performer instead of by time slot. If this makes sense to you, then you're a better person than I am. Of course, the fact that you can skip over the commercials is probably the bigger issue for the studios.
In other "out of control corporate greed" news, a British company claims they hold the patent on hyperlinks. Therefore, they should get paid every time someone clicks a link. Fortunately, even the judge hearing this argument thinks it's stupid.
Oh, speaking of the tangled Web that connects us all, a French court believes that French law applies to American companies because their Web sites are accessible to French users. Emmanuelle Richard points out that while the U.S. is annoyed by this, U.S. law doesn't necessarily apply to other countries. This may seem like an obvious point, but trust me, law is not about the obvious.
As a follow-up to an earlier link to Florida's pending filtering legislation, here's an editorial from the Gainesville (FL) Sun on Web filters.
Oddly enough (although not surprisingly), the new government restrictions on public access to federal documents covers President Bush's own gubernatorial records. Why? Because even tho they're technically state documents, he now holds a federal position.
Now, you didn't think I was going to write a post this long without mentioning Harry Potter, did you?
[TT] Salon.com via Shifted Librarian
[TT] Librarians Anonymous
[TT] News.com via LibraryPlanet.com
[TT] Los Angeles Times via LibraryPlanet.com
[TT] Law.com
[TT] New York Times via Emmanuelle.net
[TT] Gainesville Sun via Library Stuff
[TT] New York Times via Virtual Chase
[TT] Houma Courier via Virtual Chase
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:25:00 PM
February 12, 2002
Sonny Bono, EU, filters, Harry Potter safe
Sonny Bono haunts the music industry from beyond the grave!
Speaking of fucked up copyright laws, check out what the EU has in mind for Europe at Openrevolt.org.
On the subject of filters in libraries, Florida has a bill that would require public libraries to install filters. Gee, wonder if it'll pass?
Meanwhile, the Lapeer, MI school board decided Harry Potter is okay for eighth graders to read.
[TT] Yahoo! Finance via librarian.net
[TT] via librarian.net
[TT] Online Sunshine via LibraryPlanet.com
[TT] County Press via LISNews.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:46:03 PM
February 11, 2002
China net restrictions, Total Eclipse, filters
The US could have a hand in helping the Chinese populace overcome their government's restrictions on the internet.
A Vermont school board has declined to hear an appeal to remove a potentionally objectional book from a junior/senior high school library. However, Liz Rigbey's book Total Eclipse was removed from the shelves anyway, because no one really ever checked it out. Perhaps no one knew it was objectionable!
Meanwhile, a Missouri school board this week will hold hearings on the pros and cons of Web filters.
[TT] New York Times
[TT] Rutland Herald via LibraryPlanet.com
[TT] Columbia Daily Tribune via Library Stuff
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:49:00 PM
February 8, 2002
L.A.C.K. redesign (first of many)
Welcome to the redesigned L.A.C.K.! I've spent the past few days drawing the graphics, doing the layout, getting constructive criticism from some of the coolest people on the Web (not to mention my wife, who is really just the coolest person on earth), and then reformatting the archives.
A couple of things to note before I get on with the regularly scheduled news: first, you'll note a symbol next to the dates of the posts. That will take you to a particular post's permanent link.
Next, I've added a F.A.Q. To say more would of course defeat the purpose of the F.A.Q.
Finally, at the bottom of each posts, you may see a four-letter code. These will be links to news sources from which I've culled the day's items. The aforemention F.A.Q. lists what each code means.
I hope you like the new look, and I apologize if you don't!
Anyhoo, Chicago's Woman Made Gallery currently has an exhibition called Censorship! It runs thru February 21, 2002.
It's been decided that legally you can use a thumbnail of a copyrighted work, but not a full-sized picture of a copyrighted work. I wonder if I should make the pictures on Harry Potter Porn and John Ashcroft Is Evil smaller?
Lastly, Library Law Webmaster Mary Minow writes about the USA PATRIOT Act.
[TT] Woman Made Gallery via Library Stuff
[TT] Law.com
[TT] California Library Association via Library Juice
[EDITOR'S NOTE] The FAQ, symbol, and four letter codes, as well as the Harry Potter Porn and John Ashcroft Is Evil pages, are obviously no longer here. The Teachout Tags eliminated the need for the codes.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:01:00 PM
February 6, 2002
Open Directory Project
I am now the editor of the Book Banning category at the Open Directory Project, so the L.A.C.K. links list is now just a link to that category, while a second link, called ODP Perniciouslib will send you to my editor's bookmarks page.
[EDITOR'S NOTE] I'm no longer the category editor, and haven't been for a couple of years now. The editor's page is still up, though.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:09:39 PM
February 5, 2002
Oscar Wilde, Nathan's Run
The story of Oscar Wilde's battle with censorship is covered in an article from the Philosophers Magazine.
LibraryPlanet.com has noted that a challenge to John Gilstrap's book Nathan's Run has been withdrawn.
[TT] Philosophers Magazine
[TT] Mywebpal via LibraryPlanet.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:06:00 PM
February 1, 2002
RIAA, Lexis, search engine suit, long URLs
The Shifted Librarian recently linked to this New York Times article about how the music industry has been accused of collusion and misrepresentation of copyright, which prompted a judge to suspend their lawsuit against Napster.
Meanwhile, Folderol recently mentioned an article about how Lexis has filed complaints against companies that use the word "lex" in their title.
Speaking of copyright and trademark law, four search engines are being sued for trademark infringement in relation to their pay for placement programs.
Finally, Owen Massey sent along a BBC story about how J.K. Rowling is on her way to becoming Britian's most borrowed author.
Incidently, you may remember that I have bitched in the past about obnoxiously long URLs. Owen also sent along links to ShorterLink and qwer.org, which provide shorter links to those awful URLs.
[TT] New York Times via Shifted Librarian
[TT] via Folderol
[TT] Yahoo! Finance
[TT] BBC News via Owen Massey
[TT] via Owen Massey
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:08:00 PM
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