Internet Censorship: A discussion
First Monday recently published an article by Craig A. Depken, II on Internhet Censorship entitled Who Supports Internet Censorshop, which caught my interest because censorship and especially internet censorship is a big deal that we, as librarians, will have to inevitably deal with (if we haven't already). What I found particularly interesting about Depken's article was that he attempts to empirically analyze the support for Internet censorship through survey data.
Through the Internet one can access all sorts of information, from recipes to pornography to town/city historical data to hate-speech. All of these things are covered under the right to freedom of speech, whether they are things we agree with or not, people have the right to create them. The cause for concern from many people is how accesible the Internet makes information, specifically the type of information they don't agree with. The idea of censoring this type of materials is that it led to a societal greater good, and has created many laws regarding Internet content (most of which have been overturned by the Supreme Court). What has been recommended instead is filtering technologies, for those who are concerned with the information they would come across online.
As librarians, especially if we will be working in a public libraries, there is a line between wanting to provide free access to all information and wanting to provide a safe environment that our users request. The value of what's available online in terms of resources far outweighs the inappriopriate content; but when it comes to children using the computers there needs to be some sensitivity. When looking into Depken's article, I wanted to find out some more information on standards that libraries have regarding the Internet and came across a Libraries and the Internet Toolkit that has been created by the ALA to help libraries facing these types of decisions.
Our commitment to providing free resources in our libraries, again must be balanced with wants/needs of our customers. That is part of what I found so interesting about the article, to see them attempt to mathematical breakdown of the people who tend of favor censorship vs. those who do not. The data collected via the Georgia Institue of Technology's College of Computing, simply shows a lot of what was expected in that:
"It is found that those with kids, who are married, who are older, who use the internet for religious content, who work in the public sector, and who think pornography or privacy are the predominant issue concerning the Internet tend to favor Internet censorship. On the other hand, those who are male, live in urban environs, use the Internet for political content, have more Internet experience, are more comfortable on the Internet, work in information industries, and who feel government regulation or censorship is the most important issue concerning the Internet tend to be against Internet censorship."
Which I think boils down to the fact that much of using the Internet, especially in relation to censorship, depends on the use of the technology. Therefore, it should be our goals, as librarians, to help educate our users on the best ways to use the Internet. Simply because if they are not stumbling across the wrong Web sites, they will be that less concerned about the inappropriate content that may be out there.