EFFector Vol. 15, No. 30 September 27, 2002 ren@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
EFFector Vol. 15, No. 30 September 27, 2002 ren@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
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The Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 (CIPA) requires all public schools and libraries receiving certain federal funds or discounts to install controversial Internet blocking or "filtering" software. This software is supposed to prevent children from viewing material considered "harmful to minors." Unfortunately, no filter can identify these illegal materials or distinguish them from valuable web content of all kinds.
Letter to your legislators:
http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=1851
Letter to your school board if you live in CA, MA, NC, or NY:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Academic_edu/Censorware/net_blocking_alert/
- end -
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Online Policy Group (OPG) last week released preliminary results of research on Internet blocking or filtering in schools.
The research examined the effects of N2H2's Bess and SurfControl, two of the most commonly used Internet blocking software products, on Internet searches of all topics from the state-mandated curriculums of California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.
Examining nearly a million web pages, the researchers found the following:
* Schools that implement Internet blocking software with the least restrictive settings will block tens of thousands of web pages inappropriately, either because the web pages are miscategorized or because the web pages, while correctly categorized, do not merit blocking.
* A large proportion of blocked sites are miscategorized-- probably about half of the sites blocked.
* Although curriculum topic categories more often blocked by N2H2's Bess product in an East Coast high school include such topics as the Klan (36% blocked), firearms (50%), drunk driving, slavery, genocide, and perjury (33%), they also contain topics such as pogo-stick (46%), comedy (42%), personal care (32%), likes and dislikes (32%), blend sounds to make words (24%), write or dictate short poems (32%), and "examine the effect of political programs and activities of Populists" (100%).
* Schools that implement Internet blocking software with the least restrictive settings will block between 1/2% and 5% of search results based on state-mandated curriculum topics.
* Schools that implement Internet blocking software with the most restrictive settings will block up to 70% of search results based on state-mandated curriculum topics.
The final research report will be available in mid-October.
For this advisory and location of final report:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Academic_edu/Censorware/net_block_report/
Media release on press conferences related to Internet
blocking in schools:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Academic_edu/Censorware/20020918_eff_pr.html
Action alert for Congressional repeal of CIPA:
http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=1851
Action alert for school boards:
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Academic_edu/Censorware/net_blocking_alert/
Flash animation of students facing Internet blocking in
schools:
http://www.eff.org/schoolblocking/
AP article mentioning schools refusing Internet filtering in
Eugene, OR:
http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2002/09/15/filters/index.html
- end -
San Francisco - On September 30, the Internet Archive's (IA) Digital Bookmobile will embark on a cross-country journey to deliver free digital books to children nationwide.
The Bookmobile will stop at public schools, libraries, universities, mobile home parks, retirement homes, a Bookmobile conference, Hewlett Packard Digital Village schools, and the Inventors Hall of Fame, printing free copies of public domain books along the way.
The Bookmobile will park and print books at the United States Supreme Court building where, on October 9, the Justices will hear arguments in Eldred v. Ashcroft, a landmark case that will decide how many books can be part of the Bookmobile's digital library and all other digital libraries in the U.S. The case will determine if the government can extend copyright by another 20 years, effectively removing millions of books from the public domain.
"A healthy public domain means more books for more children," said IA Founder Brewster Kahle. "It's tragic that 98% of all books controlled by copyright are out of print, and therefore not available through the Internet."
Kahle and his eight-year-old son Caslon will pilot the Bookmobile on its cross-country trip. Caslon says, "Bookmobiles rule!"
To celebrate the public domain and the launch of the Bookmobile, the Archive is hosting a "going-away party" at the Archive from 4:30-7:30pm PDT on Friday, September 27. IA invites anyone who loves books to join us in wishing the Bookmobile a safe and fun-filled journey.
For directions to the Internet Archive party:
http://www.archive.org/about/contact.php
For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/IP/20020924_eff_bookmobile_pr.html
Bookmobile conference:
http://eagle.clarion.edu/~grads/csrl/great.htm
Inventors Hall of Fame:
http://www.invent.org/index.asp
Hewlett-Packard Digital Village Program:
http://grants.hp.com/us/digitalvillage/index.html
About the Bookmobile:
The Bookmobile is a rolling digital library capable of
downloading public domain books from the Internet via
satellite and printing them anytime, anywhere, for anyone.
Just as the bookmobiles of the past brought wonderful
books to people in towns across America, this century's
bookmobile will bring an entire digital library to their
grandchildren.
The Bookmobile is a Ford Aerostar with a satellite dish mounted on top, and a card table, chairs, and laptops in the trunk. It is packed with a high-speed printer, book cutter, and book binder, donated by Hewlett Packard and the Computer History Museum. At each stop, using the laptops hooked up to the Internet via satellite, a user will be able to access the library of public domain works at www.archive.org and choose a book, which will then be downloaded, printed, and bound.
For more information and pictures of the Bookmobile
suitable for publication, see:
http://www.archive.org/bookmobile/
About Internet Archive:
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization founded in
1996 to provide "universal access to human knowledge."
Located in the Presidio of San Francisco, IA is building a
digital library of Internet sites and other cultural
artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, the Archive
provides free access to researchers, historians, scholars,
and the general public.
For more information on the Internet archive, see:
http://www.archive.org
About Eldred v. Ashcroft:
Eldred v. Ashcroft is a challenge to the Sony Bono Copyright
Extension Act, which extended copyright by 20 years both for
existing copyrights and for future copyrights. Under this
law, copyright owners control their work for their lifetime
plus 70 years. That means for 20 years, not one new book
will enter the public domain, and this is just the most
recent extension. Copyright has been extended 11 times in
the last 40 years. Since works have been repeatedly and
retroactively kept under copyright control, the concept of a
Public Domain must now be considered by the Supreme Court.
The Internet Archive submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court explaining that if Congress is allowed to keep on extending the copyright term, it will take works even longer to enter the public domain. This will stifle the vibrancy of digital libraries that depend on new technologies to distribute works to people the publishers tend to forget.
For more information on the Eldred v. Ashcroft, see:
http://www.eldred.cc/
Caught in the Kid Porn Crusade
Wired's Steve Silberman on the those incorrectly implicated in the FBI's latest attempt to cleanse the Internet. Check it out at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.10/kidporn.html
Don't Blame CD Sales Woes on the Internet
Rolling Stone on the difference between p2p technology and acts of piracy (and there _is_ a difference). Read it here:
http://rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=16667
Plugging the Analog Hole: Intercepted Signals are Latest Front in Copy-Protection Wars
New study from KPMG on the content industry's misguided obsession with piracy and the damage it is causing. Check it out here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=581&e=3&cid=581&u=/nm/20020925/tc_nm/media_kpmg_dc
Plugging the Analog Hole: Intercepted Signals are Latest Front in Copy-Protection Wars
Article on the next battle between copyright bullies and technology companies. Available here:
http://www.eetimes.com/issue/fp/OEG20020920S0062
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Editor:
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