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Vol 8|No 8|May|1999 |
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From Now On|
Envelope-to: mckenzie@fno.org
From: Sites <sites@surfwatch.com> To: "'mckenzie@fno.org'" <mckenzie@fno.org> Subject: RE: (no subject) Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 18:10:01 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Status: Hello Jamie- Thank you very much for your e-mail. We have actually already corrected this error. The site is now accessible when using SurfWatch software. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. (name removed) SurfWatch Content SurfWatch Software, a Division of Spyglass, Inc. http://www.surfwatch.com http://www.spyglass.com phone: 408.395.8750 fax: 408.395.8120 ***For the most complete filtering, download our latest version of SurfWatch for Windows 95 and Windows 98 users at http://www1.surfwatch.com/freeupgrade today!*** -----Original Message----- From: Loewenstein, Mark Sent: Monday, May 03, 1999 5:29 PM To: Sites Subject: Fw: (no subject) ----- Original Message ----- From: WLMA Communications <wlma@wlma.org> To: <webmaster@surfwatch.com> Sent: Friday, April 30, 1999 7:28 PM Subject: (no subject) > Are you aware that this message was posted to over 25,000 > librarians nation-wide? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 10:07:50 -0700 From: Jamie McKenzie <mckenzie@fno.org To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU Subject: Defamation of Character Dear Colleagues . . . Last week I became aware that articles on my Web site were being blocked by an Internet filtering software company named SurfWatch. www.surfwatch.com A technology director e-mailed me complaining that she could not get to an article I had written about adult learning. http://www.fno.org/eschool/adult.html When you visit http://www.surfwatch.com and test that address, it says that it is blocked for "sexually explicit material" yet the article contains none. Is this approach to blocking content arbitrary, capricious and irresponsible? It evidently relies upon clues like the file name "adult.html" to filter pages without actually examining their content. If they were simply blocking the site, it would be one kind of damage, but they go a step further by labeling the content erroneously as "sexually explicit." This is defamation of character and false. I went to their Web site on April 23 and filled out a form to have them reconsider the label. No response and no change as of today. What we have here is an industry which sometimes uses crude measures to deliver "information security" and applies a standard that a page or a site is "guilty until proven innocent." It is quite possible that hundreds of people in any given week are erroneously told that I am providing "sexually explicit" material on my Web site. As a speaker, this kind of electronic smear campaign could be quite damaging. I would ask members of LM_NET to send me e-mail if they have been blocked from the From Now On Web site by any filtering program. I am seriously thinking about taking legal action to stop this kind of irresponsible site filtering, and your messages could provide critically important evidence. Many thanks, Jamie Jamie McKenzie Editor - "From Now On - The Educational Technology Journal" http://fno.org 935 Lincoln Pl 935 Lincoln Pl "The question is the answer." "Hits are not Truth." Credits: The photographs were shot by Jamie McKenzie. Icons from Jay Boersma. Copyright Policy: Materials published in From Now On may be duplicated in hard copy format if unchanged in format and content for educational, nonprofit school district and university use only and may also be sent from person to person by e-mail. This copyright statement must be included. All other uses, transmissions and duplications are prohibited unless permission is granted expressly. Showing these pages remotely through frames is not permitted. |