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My local library's Wi-Fi filter blocks more than I expected
I visited the downtown branch in Austin last week to look up some history articles for a project. Their public Wi-Fi blocked a site about the 1960s anti-war protests because it had the word 'protest' in the URL. The librarian told me the filter is set by the county IT department and they can't override it. I've seen this kind of thing before (my college did it too) but it feels different when a public institution does it. Has anyone else run into overly aggressive filters at libraries or schools? What did you do about it?
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wyatt1351mo ago
Censorship by proxy, nice. That librarian probably has a lengthy list of banned words.
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allen.quinn1mo ago
Sounds like a minor inconvenience, not a crisis.
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barbara_grant41mo ago
Wait, they actually blocked her from using certain keywords? How is that not a red flag for free speech issues? Doesn't that seem a bit extreme for just running a blog?
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