Rogue Librarian

The good news first: a three-judge panel sitting in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania concluded unanimously that the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is unconstitutional. This decision is in response to the civil action brought by the American Library Association and the Multnomah County Public Library. That action was based on the claim that CIPA would force libraries to violate the First Amendment rights of their patrons. If CIPA had not been stopped, libraries receiving certain kinds of federal funding would have been forced to filter Internet access. Some libraries may still decide to filter as they wish. See the court’s opinion and the American Library Association’s response.

Now the bad news. The Justice Department has eased restrictions on domestic spying, giving the FBI greater authority to monitor libraries and other organizations. An especially cheery item to note is that "the new guidelines give FBI agents more freedom to investigate terrorism even when they are not pursuing a particular case." Tip for library users: if you need a book about bomb making, terrorism or anarchy, steal, do not borrow; you don’t want to that kind of stuff on your “library record.” A good discussion about this development is under way at Web4Lib. If you are not a subscriber, you can read the archive. Look for the "FBI to monitor libraries" thread.

Happy birthday to Mr. Zeldman.

At pixelview, the head lemur interviews Matt Haughey, the creator of Metafilter.

Portrait of an urban library: Washington D.C.’s public library system is the product of decades of neglect. Thanks, David.

Yesterday I wrote about the deceptive letter that I got from netsol/VeriSign. Today I learned that a U.S. court had ordered this sinister company to stop this very campaign. The fury that netsol has generated is enough to fuel a whole community; Network Solutions Horror Stories has a rather salty discussion forum, and a standing VeriSign scam update. Thanks, Michael.