Adblock Plus Rocks!

As a long-time user of the Adblock Firefox extension [insert image of author giving finger to ad-men everywhere], I heartily recommend the newer Adblock Plus.  Block all those silly web ads and banners, and destroy an entire business model, one click at a time!

Read the FAQ : AdblockPlus does not play well Filterset.G…there are other filters available.

Libraries and ‘Adult Materials’

More like ‘Adolescent materials’…Atlanta public library patrons are up in arms over alleged viewing of pornography at library workstations.

Viewing pornography is a private activity which should be restricted to one’s home.  If one doesn’t have a home, though, who am I to deny adults their rights?   And who decides what is pornographic?

A few days ago I saw another story about a public library that had two internet areas: one monitored; one un-monitored.  This struck me as eminently sensible.  Kids to the right; perverts to the left.

“The library system is not a baby-sitting service, and the librarians are not our children’s nannies,” he said. “Let’s not surrender our parental responsibility to a software package, the librarians and the county government.” – A library patron from the article.

I agree.  Filtering software has been shown (at least to my satisfaction) to be  poorly programmed, and likely to block sites based on oversimplified textual criteria (breast cancer information, for instance.)   Who will decide what is pornographic – “community standards”?  Oh, please…I personally don’t care to surrender my personal tastes to my community’s lowest common denominator.

I pay to be spied upon (it’s a new kink!)

Honestly, I’ve never before paid for a service where the provider conspired against the constitution. It’s special.

Image from Boing Boing