Re: [OS:N:] Re: School Filtering

[Eric Harrison <eharrison mail mesd k12 or us>]

On Sat, 21 Sep 2002, Evan Leibovitch wrote:

>On 19 Sep 2002, Jeremy Hogan wrote:
>
>> This one is about something not exclusive to OSS, but very important
>> regarding freedom of speech.

>It's a valid and useful discussion, but probably not relevant to the
>purpose of this forum.

This is a touchy subject, similar to discussing vi/emacs in some circles.

I tried (and failed) to get a point across by avoiding the touchy portions.

Independent of the freedom-of-speech issues, there is a technology issue and
an accountability issue. Should you choose to filter (ignoring the pro/con
arguments), my point was that open source software is the *best* choice.

Not only are the open source filtering solutions significantly cheaper, more
reliable, and more effective, but the user of the technology has complete
control over its use. This is an extremely important point: by using open
source software for filtering, I have absolute control over what is filtered.
ANY TIME a freedom-of-speech issue arises, I can fix it. Period. I can
publish, for the whole world to see (and use), EXACTLY what is filtered[1].

Full control, no restrictions. Full disclosure to all parties, nothing hidden.

I can't think of a better example of why open source software is so important,
doubly so considering the intended audience of this list.

-Eric

[1] an interesting side-effect of the CIPA is that I am now publishing a 
    publicly accessible list of hundreds of thousands of pornographic URLs