Comments on: What An Honor

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:34:46 +0000

Thanks, Eric. And thanks for raising the issue.

I know why big companies do it. I don’t like it but I can’t really blame them, given that they probably do face liability. But libraries? Nobody is doing children any favors by shielding them from controversial issues. One day they’ll grow up and find themselves swimming in the same opinion sea that filters hide (as if many kids weren’t already doing so, off premises). They are better off learning how to deal with controversy from their parents or other responsible adults rather than from playmates.

BTW, I think that the remark about the photos was meant in jest.

By: Eric Scheie

Eric Scheie — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:19:27 +0000

http://www.chicagoboyz.net/ was the URL which was blocked. SonicWALL is particularly insidious because it blocks sites which discuss controversial issues on their list. Big companies concerned with liability love it, and I am sure the mainstream media loves the fact that blogs are blocked. Even Volokh and Kaus are blocked — because they discuss controversial topics like sex, guns, violence, religious cults, etc. By the way, I disagree that your blog was blocked because “the pictures at the top of the page are Satanic in nature” — although I do think the pictures may be implicated. (“Mature content”, you know….)

Hope it can be stopped, and I thank you for the link!

By: Jay Manifold

Jay Manifold — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 00:47:53 +0000

Asking the pictures at the top of the page for more sex and violence? I dunno, sounds kinda occult to me …

By: aaron

aaron — Sun, 22 Feb 2004 18:42:23 +0000

Did you try asking them?

By: Sylvain Galineau

Sylvain Galineau — Sat, 21 Feb 2004 05:01:42 +0000

I still think we need more sex and violence.

By: Richard A. Heddleson

Richard A. Heddleson — Sat, 21 Feb 2004 02:40:02 +0000

The reason the site is blocked is that the ALA determined that the pictures at the top of the page are Satanic in nature.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:04:10 +0000

Good question. Classical Values lists blocked blogs from InstaPundit’s link roll, so I thought it likely that chicagoboyz.net was indeed the blocked blog. But who knows. Cases of mistaken identity are not unheard of in connection with filtering software.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has access to a filtered computer or network and can check our blog’s status.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 20 Feb 2004 20:42:55 +0000

I’ll leave it to the reader to speculate why, or if, chicagoboyz.com may be the website that is blocked.

But chicagoboyz.net is, I suspect, not the intended target or is a victim of guilt by similar name.

Then again, maybe this site is blocked and the other allowed. That wouldn’t be surprising.