Gun Activists Have A Stake Against Filtering Software [Censorware]

[Matthew Gaylor]

Both the American Civil Liberties Union and The American Library 
Association filed suit 3-20-2001 in Federal court to stop the 
Children's Internet Protection Act (CHIPA).  This is the act that 
forces libraries and schools to use filtering software (censorware). 
You can read both complaints here:

ACLU http://www.aclu.org/court/multnomah.pdf

ALA http://www.ala.org/cipa/cipacomplaint.pdf

Filtering software has been pushed as the solution to stopping 
children from viewing inappropriate materials, like pornography, on 
the Internet.  However, the software has numerous flaws, the most 
basic being that it doesn't stop all of the pornography.  More 
ominously, and more of a threat to our long term liberty is the fact 
that the software in many cases "blacklists" political and other 
material incorrectly.  Seth Finkelstein, who just won the Electronic 
Freedom Foundation's Pioneer Award, details a few gun related sites 
that are blacklisted.  If a school or library had the SmartFilter 
program installed, students would be blocked from viewing those 
sites.  As a point of information-  http://www.ayoob.com which is 
listed as "extreme" is the site run by the noted Police firearm's 
Instructor Massad Ayoob.  The site is His Lethal Force Institute, 
which trains qualified citizens and police in armed self defense 
techniques.  The other sites, are listed under the category of 
criminal skills.  http://www.springfield-armory.com is the site for 
Springfield Armory an American producer of fine firearms.  My 
recommendation is that everyone enter their favorite site's url at: 
http://www.securecomputing.com/cgi-bin/filter_whereV3.cgi  and see if 
their site or company is blocked.  Then I'd take whatever action, 
including the courts to have the incorrect designation removed.

Regards,  Matthew Gaylor-

[Please post this to other RKBA forums and elsewhere if relevant.]