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L.A.C.K. & Censoround
March 31, 2003
DNA, it's dynamite!
A provision of the Domestic Security Enchancement Act allows the Department of Justice to create a DNA database of suspected terrorists.
[TT] Wired
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:01:32 PM
Generic Harry Potter news
Someone thinks Harry Potter books should be banned because of their witchcraft themes.
[TT] NBC30.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:31:04 PM
March 28, 2003
The land of the free?
The Village Voice takes a look at the Domestic Security Enchancement Act, A.K.A. PATRIOT Act II.
[TT] Village Voice
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:22:19 PM
March 27, 2003
Locked up docs
President Bush has issued an executive order that delays the declassification of documents by three years, with the option of reclassifying documents in the name of national security.
[TT] MSNBC
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:17:00 PM
March 26, 2003
Oversensitivity at MTV Europe?
Similar to a list of songs that Clear Channel suggested not be played during the immediate aftermath of September 11, an executive at MTV Europe is recommending certain videos not be played during the war, including a Radiohead song that doesn't exist.
[TT] New York Times
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:29:51 PM
USA PATRIOT Act updates
Jessamyn West of librarian.net has written an excellent article about the USA PATRIOT Act. She has also recently mentioned the We hate the PATRIOT Act's LiveJournal, as well as an article about how "in the FBI, [the act] a nonissue."
[TT] Slingshot & Tri-Valley Herald via librarian.net
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:55:21 AM
March 25, 2003
A rule change is in order
Employees at the Minneapolis Public Library are suing over the hostile work environment because security guards are not allowed to ask patrons to stop surfing for porn on the public terminals.
[TT] St. Paul Pioneer Press
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:41:10 AM
Watch out for impromptu Quidditch games
A Harry Potter symposium has been planned for July 17-20, 2003, at Walt Disney World. An army of lawyers from Warner Brothers will be there to spot and cite copyright violations. (That last part may or may not be true.)
[TT] Nimbus 2003
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:33:38 AM
This has nothing to do with anything
Now you can have a sculpture of Michael Jackson dangling his baby outside a hotel window! A bargin at only $49.95!
[TT] PopSculptures.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:17:23 AM
March 24, 2003
What, did someone bug their chambers?
The Supreme Court will not hear the ACLU's challenge to the survelliance powers granted the Department of Justice in the USA PATRIOT Act.
[TT] RecordNET
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:48:33 PM
How about, like, everything?
The US Copyright Office will be holding hearings about what changes to make to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
[TT] News.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:32:35 PM
Does this book about Lenny Bruce count?
People in Longmont, CO have formed a "subversive book check-out" club as a protest against the USA PATRIOT Act.
[TT] The Daily Camera
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:29:14 PM
"Shame on you, Mr. Bush!"
Weird how Michael Moore got booed for speaking out against the war when receiving his Oscar. Were people surprised he was going to say something? Were people offended he spoke out in such inflammatory terms? Did people not know he's a bit liberal?
It was nice to see that he brought his fellow nominees up with him. Criticize him all you want (and when given the opportunity, I will), but that was a very nice gesture.
[TT] Reuters
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:25:35 PM
Read the fine print
Jeb Bush's plan to close public libraries and give the books to universities (I may be overgeneralizing here) may have hit a small and slightly ironic snag: there's no money to move the books.
[TT] TCPalm.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:21:40 PM
I knew Jack Valenti shouldn't have written this law
A new federal law that's supposed make it easier for teachers to use such things as movie clips in online courses is just confusing as hell.
[TT] Chronicle of Higher Education
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:18:49 PM
March 21, 2003
The unending quest for answers to rhetorical questions
Although I swore I wouldn't, I've been spending a lot of time today reading about that war that's going on in Iraq. Basically, I've been seeking out writing that reinforces my opinion, because there's not a lot that the opposing side can say to me at this point that would change my mind.
As this National Journal commentary and this Jon Carroll column point out, the media has been doing a decent job of covering the war. There will always be cries of liberal/conservative bias, but the fact is this: if you want your version of the truth, it's pretty easy to find it.
That's the beauty of the internet. That's also the web fulfilling its promise. (Er, in the "reason to expect something" sense.)
I've become particular fond of BusinessWeek's coverage. You'd expect it to be ultra-conservative and hawkish, like the Wall Street Journal, but the opposite has been true, as Bruce Nussbaum's commentary attests. Considering that a majority of its readers oppose the war, that probably makes sense.
[TT] National Journal, SFGate.com & BusinessWeek
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:25:11 PM
March 20, 2003
Clear Channel must have a stake in rebuilding Iraq
Clear Channel has been organizing a number Rally for America events in cities nationwide. The rallies, which they describe as being "a thank you to the troops," are in support of President Bush's policy towards Iraq.
[TT] Chicago Tribune
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:11:49 PM
Today, I start posting headlines for L.A.C.K. stories
In other news, BBC reporter Megan Lane predicts, "The word library is set to fade from our vocabulary" and be replaced by "idea stores." Would that make librarians "idea sales managers?"
[TT] BBC News
[EDITOR'S NOTE] The headlines in posts previous to this one were added later.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
2:19:14 PM
March 19, 2003
Freedom to Read Protection Act
The following was posted by James Quinn on the Library Underground mailing list ...
"The following two pointers are from SECRECY NEWS, Volume 2003, Issue No. 23 (from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy) March 18, 2003:
" IN CONGRESS
"The 'Freedom to Read Protection Act' (HR 1157) would amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to exempt libraries and bookstores from any requirement to comply with foreign intelligence investigations. The new bill would 'protect libraries, bookstores and their patrons from unjustified government surveillance into what books Americans are reading and buying, and what websites they may be visiting when using a library computer,' said Rep. Bernie Sanders, the bill's principal sponsor. See:
"http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/hr1157.html
"The 'Military Tribunals Act of 2003' would replace the Bush Administration's military commissions, that were established unilaterally by executive order, with statutorily-based military tribunals. The bill (HR 1290), introduced March 13 and sponsored by Reps. Adam Schiff, Barney Frank and others, would 'preserve the basic rights of habeus corpus, appeal, and due process," Rep. Schiff said. See:
"http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/hr1290.html"
[TT] Library Underground
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:52:37 PM
Internet Censorship Explorer
The OpenNet Initiative has designed the Internet Censorship Explorer to compile a list of what websites are blocked by which countries.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:39:23 PM
Report on FOIA
The National Security Archive has released its first report about the state of the Freedom of Information Act under John Ashcroft. I haven't read it yet, so I'm in no position to summarize it, but please check it out.
[TT] National Security Archive
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:35:03 PM
More web filter laws
Washington State and Florida are considering laws requiring public libraries install web filters.
[TT] SUN Newspaper & Florida Times-Union
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:30:10 PM
Witch Baby retained
The book Witch Baby is allowed to remain on the shelves of the Fairfax County Public Schools' library.
[TT] American Libraries
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:26:00 PM
Draconian
The RIAA has sent 300 companies threatening letters about copyright violations if employees download MP3s at work.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:07:58 PM
March 18, 2003
Looking for naughty librarians
Porn-viewing is an epidemic in public libraries.
[TT] MobyLives
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
2:38:21 PM
March 17, 2003
Arrr!
If you watch pirated movies, then the terrorists have won.
[TT] ZDNet
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:13:18 PM
New Mexico tackles USA PATRIOT Act
New Mexico has begun to fight the USA PATRIOT Act.
[TT] librarian.net & beSpacific
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:30:40 AM
March 13, 2003
Lofgren takes on Valenti
Rep. Zoe Lofgren is sick and tired of Jack Valenti's abuses of the fair use, so she's doing something about it.
[TT] SiliconValley.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:16:29 PM
LII PATRIOT Act resources
The Librarians' Index to the Internet has a collection of USA PATRIOT Act resources.
[TT] Librarians' Index to the Internet
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:50:03 AM
Leahy takes on Ashcroft
Sen. Patrick Leahy is sick and tired of John Ashcroft's abuses of the Freedom of Information Act, so he's doing something about it.
[TT] Office of Senator Patrick Leahy
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:42:03 AM
Porn in Ottawa's libraries
Public librarians in Ottawa want to ban pornography from public libraries' terminals, but the library board believes this will fetter internet access.
[TT] CBC Ottawa
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:35:07 AM
AOL's take on TIVO technology
AOL's version of TiVo will give the illusion that the user has control over what one's seeing, but will have parameters set by the networks.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:26:13 AM
What iPod means to the RIAA
Are iPod and the music industry compatible? Only if they have a sensible business model.
[TT] BusinessWeek
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:10:51 AM
March 12, 2003
The Pernicious Librarian
Before this version of L.A.C.K. and after the original version of L.A.C.K. and also before the original version of L.A.C.K. was The Pernicious Librarian. Now Perniciouslib coexists with L.A.C.K. for reasons explained there. Now that I have a bit more free time, I plan to squander it by creating yet another website.
I can't promise it won't be taken down by the end of the year, of course.
[EDITOR'S NOTE] Well, it wasn't taken down by the end of the year, but it was gone one year later.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:50:54 PM
Supreme Court and CIPA
I wasn't posting when the CIPA case went to the Supreme Court, so in case you don't read any other library news sites, we can find out what happened during the arguments in this transcription!
[TT] Seth Finkelstein's Home Site
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:02:33 PM
March 10, 2003
Fixing the USA PATRIOT Act
The push to fix the more troubling aspects of the USA PATRIOT Act is now underway.
[TT] North Adams Transcript
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:46:54 PM
Back from the dead; head not shaved
Hey, I'm back. I finally finished the firm cataloging project, which means I'll have more time for the myraid of websites I own and operate! Yay!
[EDITOR'S NOTE] I cataloged the library at the last law firm I worked at from scratch. I know, I know: awesome!
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:45:00 PM
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