Censorware

Ok, randomosity here, but my sister is working as a substitute teacher and was assigned to help out in the library of a middle school today. so she had some downtime and was browsing around and sent me an IM to ask what I’m up to, I said I’m working on my blog design, again, and could she take a look at it?

so she types in the URL and apparently the alameda county school district uses web filtering software to keep kids from browsing “objectionable” web site, and my domain name is blocked under the “violence” category. ha!

and yeah, it’s no secret that i’m no fan of politicians or cops, I’ve even written a couple songs that could be interpreted as advocating violence, but … c’mon people, it’s not like I’m posting snuff films here or something. 10 minutes of the evening news on any given night contains far more violence then anything i’ve ever written or posted here; but they’re not blocking CNN or FOX News now are they?

so there it is, I’m officially too dangerous for kids in alameda county (where I live) to have access to my website.

now, i’m not gonna get too deep here, but personally i think it’s pretty lame to censor the internet anywhere, the people who pushed for installing this kind of software did it by telling parents that without it their kids would be able to look at porn at school, but obviously they’ve gone a bit beyond that. the really shitty part is that a lot of low-income kids don’t have internet access at home, so blocking them at school effectively removes their only access to people like me who talk about serious social issues from an anticapitalist perspective. Which is probably the point. As someone whose own introduction to radical politics happened online, this one hits a bit too close to home for comfort.

fuckers.

Posted: December 7th, 2007 under culture war.
Comments: none