Cable Wins Internet-Access Ruling

From the NY Times: The Supreme Court ruled that cable companies providing broadband Internet services are not bound, as phone companies are, to let competing providers offer services over their lines.

This decision affirms a difference between telecommunications providers, "common carriers" under the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and "information services," which are untaxed, generally unregulated, and (important for public library purposes) not part of the eRate program.

The Court also unanimously held that copyright-infringement suits against file-sharing services Grokster and StreamCast may continue. The Court felt that, unlike VCR's and copy machines, peer-to-peer file sharing networks exist primarily to trade in copyrighted materials. Critics are afraid this will stifle innovation.

Biometrics used to control Internet access

The Naperville Public Library's decision to begin using biometrics to control patron access to the Internet has been a local issue in Chicago (and a controversy in library blogs). It went national with this NPR story: Chicago Libraries to Require ID Check for Internet Use. Naperville says that people were using other people's library cards to get Internet access, particularly minors using cards that gave them unfiltered access.

The library (and the biometrics firm) insists that images of the fingerprints are not stored, and that privacy is assured. But these arguments aren't working. Fingerprinting is tied too strongly to identification for law enforcement.

The story was also discussed in the May 20 edition of the Chicago Tribune.

Ohio not the top state for public use computers

The US National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) released preliminary data in their Normative Data Project for Libraries, 2003. I find it notable that Ohio ranked fifth in 2003 for average number of public-use terminals per stationary outlet (12.88), and 11th for average number of public-use terminals per 5,000 population (4.09).

Also noteworthy is that while Ohio libraries are well known to be at the top concerning state income per capita (39.87), the state ranked 48th in local income per capita (12.31).

Internet "red light district" created

Wired News: Too SeXXXy for Dot-Com

ICANN approves .xxx domains, available later this fall or winter. John Morris at the Center for Democracy and Technology predicts that some adult sites will voluntarily enter this new virtual red-light district while others will stay in the general dot-com. Commentators wonder if mandatory zoning of cyberspace is legal or practical, and some foresee the creation of policies (perhaps even laws) forbidding the routing of users to .xxx domains.

98.9% of US, but 100% of Ohio

ALA | U.S. Public Libraries Providing Unprecedented Access to Computers, the Internet, and Technology Training

"New data shows that 98.9 percent of all public libraries offer free public access to computers and the Internet—a growth of more than 400 percent since 1996, when just one in four libraries did."

The report also says that for about half the systems studied (50.6%), technology budgets have stayed level with no increases for inflation. More than one in 10 systems reported a decrease. It compares differences between urban and rural districts and between different states, and discusses training programs.

Also reported in the New York Times.

Playing Catch-Up

I clipped a lot of stories in Bloglines before I finally got around to creating this blog. Here is a month's backlog of important and/or interesting items.

Massachusetts Reconsiders Filter Mandate Bill
American Libraries reported in late May that Massachusetts H.R. 3530 requires libraries to install filters. The resolution had earlier failed as an amendment to the state budget.

H.R. 3530 mandates that libraries with 2–9 workstations filter the internet on one machine; those with 10 or more public-access computers would have to place blocking software on 30% of the workstations. The bill also calls for prominent signage that informs patrons which machines are filtered....

Bill Ties School Funding to Parental Watchdog Councils
H.R. 2295 proposes that states may receive no federal education fund unless every local education agency creates a "parent review and empowerment council" to screen every library/curriculum acquisition except textbooks. I think it's all about King and King.

Oklahoma Library to Allow Gaming After All
Chat rooms still banned, but "the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County, Oklahoma, reversed itself May 9 and decided that e-mail and online gaming would continue to be allowed on public internet workstations." They'll also keep a year's logs of who uses the computers.

Consumer Reports weighs in on filtering
Jessamyn at librarian.net points to a Consumer Reports article reviewing Internet content filters. I think the full text will be available in EBSCO once the embargo period has passed.

Librarian.net also alerted me to the story that the Allegheny [PA] Council is considering a bill to require libraries to report incidents of patron viewing pornography. This will be tied to funding of the Allegheny County Library Association. The aim, say supporters, is to improve the performance of commercial content filters.