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Ad Lib: Advocacy for Libraries

May 24, 2006

Little Orphan Workie

If you’re reading the other NSLS blogs (and of course you are, right?), you’ve already seen Kay make mention of the Orphan Works Bill that was introduced in the House by Texas’s Lamar Smith yesterday. This is, as Kay mentions, a good thing for digitization projects, but beyond that, it’s a good thing for information access on all professional levels.

This is not a new issue to the library world: ALA has had a position on it for quite some time now, and it’s been one of the issues presented at National Library Legislative Day for at least the past two years (it may’ve been longer, but I’ve only gone twice, so I can’t speak beyond that). Although ALA’s site hasn’t, as of this writing, been updated to reflect Rep. Smith’s bill, it looks on brief perusal to fit ALA’s wishes with this legislation. You can see ALA’s position in the link above, and you can read the text of the bill here (PDF, Acrobat required).

posted by Alan at 3:36 pm | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

DOPA, Part II

As a quick follow-up on the Deleting Online Predators Act I wrote about last week:

The bill was introduced last Friday as H.R. 5319, and has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This immediately doubles our area connectedness to it since, in addition to being sponsored by Rep. Kirk, it’s now being considered in the committee in which our own Rep. Jan Schakowsky is a member.

Not sure what to say if you contact Reps. Kirk or Schakowsky (or, really, any member of the House you want to talk to about this)? ALA has some talking points:

1. Schools and libraries are required under CIPA to block obscene or offensive internet content. DOPA is not necessary.
2. DOPA is much too broad. The bill proposes to block access to beneficial collaborative web applications and resources.
3. Education is the best way to protect children from online predators. Blocking websites does not protect children- teaching them to use the Internet responsibly and safely does.

posted by Alan at 10:06 am | Comments (0)

May 11, 2006

This Just In…

Well, there’s timing for you. I was just getting ready to write another piece on net neutrality, when a new issue comes into my lap, and with local resonance.

According to CNET’s News.com, some in Congress want to limit access to social networking sites (i.e. MySpace, LiveJournal, etc.) in school and libraries. And by “limit access to,” I mean “require that filters be put in place preventing said sites from loading.”

The bill is being introduced by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R – PA-8) and our own Rep. Mark Kirk (R – IL-10). Fitzpatrick explains it this way: “When children leave the home and go to school or the public library and have access to social-networking sites, we have reason to be concerned.” What we have reason to be concerned about, the article doesn’t say.

The bill (which you can read as a PDF), however, does say what’s being targeted:

The term ‘commercial social networking website’ means a commercially operated Internet website that allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves, and are available to other users; and offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, email, or instant messenger.

Sound pretty borad-reaching? Yeah, that’s because it is. Heck, even the NSLS site fits most of the criteria, as the user profiles and CoPs fit the description (it would probably be safe, though, as it doesn’t fit most definitions of “commercially operated”).

The American Library Association is “still reviewing the legislation” according to the article, so there’s no official position yet, but that shouldn’t stop you from contacting Rep. Kirk (or one of our other Representatives) and let them know where you stand on the issue.

posted by Alan at 3:55 pm | Comments (0)