At 11:43 AM -0800 2/29/00, Harmon Seaver wrote:
> Obviously I can't speak for every library everywhere. but often
>it's the
>local gov that pushes this. City, county, etc. And obviously also, most
>libraries are going to discourage visits to porn sites on public
>terminals, what
>choice do they have? They are trying to avoid mandated filtering -- if you
>go in
>and insist on pulling up porn, which will upset other patrons...
This is yet another variant of the "don't do anything to upset people"
rationale that I just discussed in connection with E-Gold, Freedom, and
Bassomatic.
"Well, just don't read "Lady Chatterly's Lover," and don't bring copies of
"Playboy" into Humdinger County, and there just won't be a problem, OK?"
, you'll probably
>not be allowed to use the terminals. The usual problem is a kid pulls up a
>porn
>shot, then walks away, leaving it there to shock others.
I can think of _many_ technological/propertarian solutions to this problem.
For one thing, enclosed cubicles. Perhaps with interlocks to reset the
computer upon exiting. Thus, no chance that little Sally or sensitive
Freddie will see those naughty bits.
And so on. Solutions exist.
Oh, and what happens when a kid calls up images of aborted foetuses, or
gynecological sites? While not exactly a Penthouse Pet, just as shocking
(or even more so) to see aborted foetuses and suchlike. So does the library
then place limits on such access?
How about war footage? I remember as a kid we used to scour the magazine
archives for images of Holocaust victims and Hiroshima crispy
critters...it's what kids do. What happens when a kid leaves an image of a
mother and child on a Hiroshima wall on their screens?
Same as looking up dirty words in the dictionary, except now little Johnny
can call up an online dictionary, find his favorite word, and leave it on
the screen in 24-point type.
(The solution of having Net access in cubicles and then flushing the
browser contents helps here, though a kid can still arrange to have notes
left around. Just restart the computer for each new entrant would be the
cleanest solution, though it's stress on the hardware and consumes start up
time. But if one's concern is what others leave behind, the only real
solution. Eliminate state, in more ways than one.)
> Which brings up another topic. How would libraries be funded in a
>true libertarian society? Privately? 8-) 8-) I've given that a lot of
>thought, and am quite familiar with library costs, etc. There's not any
>possible
>way that I can see a "pay per use" library working.
>
Andrew Carnegie funded libraries privately, as you know. More recent
benefactors have done the same thing. And many private libraries exist,
even in communities. (A town near me, Soquel, has one, even though County
libraries are nearby.)
There are many functions which are private which in a alternate reality
might have been public. Food distribution, for example, contrasted with
schools. (I once wrote a satirical essay about how "Access to Food Must be
Equal," protesting the plan in this alternate reality to "privatize" the
local food system. "How will the needs of the poor be met? What will happen
to the nutrititional guidelines established by our PGAs (Parent-Grocer
Associations)?")
As to membership libraries, what's wrong with that? It's how many services
are apportioned, from riding clubs to neighborhood swimming pools and even
to state parks.
(There are the usual issues of overuse vs. metered service, tragedy of the
commons, etc. )
Here in my own community, the County libraries are poorly used. Most are
filled with old, musty books which few kids, and even fewer adults, are
interested in reading. The technical sections are especially bad. When I
was a kid I devoured books in the library...but the books were not out of
date as fast as they are today. (I can still remember the Dewey Decimal
numbers, like "672.73.")
The Santa Cruz County Main Library is a scary place, at least for parents
and their children. Winos and bums hang out in the reading chairs. Attempts
to chase them out result in threats of lawsuits by "advocates for the
homeless." Often the bums, and some hard working Mexicans who want a place
to sit down and get out of the hot sun for a few hours, pretent to flip the
pages of a magazine.
And some kids use the library as an after school free day care
center...making noise and reading the magazines (including the adult
magazines...by "adult" I mean "Cosmopolitan" and "Redbook" and "Marie
Claire"--anyone who wonders why so many 8-year-old girls are dressing in
the tramp style of Madonna and wearing Kate Moss makeup need only see the
little girls reading the fashion mags at the Santa Cruz Main Library).
Parents I know would not even think of having their children rely on these
bum and wino drop-in centers for reading. They buy the kids the books they
need or want.
In my community, there are numerous excellent used and new bookstores.
These stores are _crowded_, day and night. Many more books are for sale
than when I was a kid. The libraries are skankier and more obsolete, the
Borders and Barnes and Nobles and other bookstores are bigger, nicer, and
of course much more up to date. These are trends I have seen in several
states, and, I surmise, are true for most communities, especially larger
and/or more affluent ones.
The public library is dying. Long live the large bookstore.
As for Internet access, why should libraries be the places where kids or
others get free access?
If free access is called for, then it must be truly free. No censorship of
scary images, of medical or birth control information, of controversial
cult recruiting information, etc.
--Tim May
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
