from OHIO LIBRARY WATCH

UNPRECEDENTED CENSORSHIP AT AKRON LIBRARY

The US Patriot Act, Echelon, a UK produced Smart Filter,
and the local Akron library board have conspired to
remove millions of sites from access. In addition
the 1 million given by SBC Ameritech to the library has resulted
in the destruction of the Akron Free Net, as the library
announced that after May 16, 2005, the 999 minutes of
access per patron per day would be a maximum 180 minutes
during the week and 120 on Sunday. (One can request an unfiltered
machine and additional minutes.. but the process is time consuming.)

PORNOGRAPHY CONTROL

Pornography in terms of secondary viewing (a child
or adult passing by seeing pornography on the screen)
is a problem for many libraries. There are a number
of ways that libraries have dealt with the issue without
censorship. Having separate rooms for unfiltered machines,
removing patrons who have been warned several times
are 2 options. The library's Smart Filter is allowing through at
times commercial popups of questionable taste.

UNFILTERED

In libraries of communities of Northeast Ohio, University of Akron, Kent State, Twinsburg, Stow, Hudson, Peninsula, Stow, Wadsworth, Medina, Cuyahoga Falls, do not censor. They are under the same Republican dominated laws but they interpret their application differently.

SMART FILTER

The Smart Filter system which was introduced a few months
before the 2004 election eliminated hundreds of thousands
of peace, Democrat, abolition, environment, women's issues,
privacy, animal rights and other sites. It is opposed by
many library associations. Its relationship to Echelon
spyware is questionable.

CORRUPTION

In Akron, we have one indicted member of the university
computer staff.. who was taking $81,000 a year from Peoplesoft
after giving that company AU business. Several other
unindicted staffers were taking Peoplesoft money.

MILLIONS OF SITES BLOCKED

Millions of Yahoo Groups have been
put on an obstacle course which wastes time of patrons who
support the library.
Hundreds of thousands of Microsoft Groups are inaccessible
totally.
Hundreds of thousands of petitions on PetitionOnLine
and other sites are blocked.
More and more internet traffic is going to forums. Forums
are not 'chat' but a visible record of news opinion and
other topics. Thousands of these forums are blocked by Smart
Filter... forms for quotesland.com, for poetry journals
such as rottentomatoes.com, environment, abolition, peace,
minority, women's rights, spiritual and other forums. In May,
having been blocked from many sites at the library, poster
found a commercial popup eating up the reduced computer
time.

ENDING THE NANNY APPROACH

Patrons are angered by the nanny approach of the library
which contravenes the policy of the American Library Association.
A woman who sat down at one of the branches to check
her shopping site objected to librarians she could not access it.
The librarians more than anyone else know how many
have complained.
Some want to gather petitions and organize Akron's patrons. Others want to go to the
media. Still others want to go to court.

PRIVACY

Many communities in Northeast Ohio do not require
an antiprivacy identification before logging in to computers.
Among them are Kent State, Hudson, Peninsula, Stow,
Twinsburg.

NEEDS

Many libraries provide scanners and CD burners to empower
the patrons. Under $100,000 in expenditures could
give patrons the tools of the 21st Century.

When books do not move in branches after sales,
they could be put on tables marked Free. Magazines also
could be offered, rather than filling the landfill with
unrecycled paper. Cuyahoga Falls Library provides a table
of free books.

ENVIRONMENT

Many libraries in response to international environment
coalitions such as Earth Day have instituted recycled
paper in the copiers.

HISTORY

Russell Munn was committed to intellectual freedom when he
was director of Akron's libraries. Many librarians have expressed
privately their opposition to the Smart Filter. After SBC
gave a million dollars to the library, the Akron freenet
became no longer free.ONE OF THE UK'S MOST DANGEROUS NANNY FILTERS
BLOCKING ACCESS TO PEACE, ENVIRONMENT,
ABOLITION, ANIMAL RIGHTS AND OTHER SITES

MAKE THEM STEP BACK

SmartFilter made by Ecommnet +44 191 478 8315
Ecommnet, makers of SmartFilter, unlike most corporations
do not list their address at their website.

PEACE NOT WAR

The library and WKSU have brought to the people of Akron
not a maker of peace but a monger of war in the person
of NPR's national security reporter.

FREE LONG DISTANCE

This poster does not belong to any chat rooms.. however
wonders out loud if the ban on chat rooms at the Akron
Library is based on a fruitless attempt to stop the
drive to free long distance.

LOCAL NEWSPAPER
The library is even blocking the forum of the Beacon Journal,
the area's newspaper. It is no great loss, since the forums
are heavily censored.

http://www.ala.org
http://www.aclu.org
http://www.eff.org
http://www.rcfp.org/news/mag/25-2/sct-libraria.html
http://www.internationalanswer.org

* re the Ameritech censorship of the free net .. Ameritech
is now ATT SBC