CONTENT
Case Tests Congress' Ability To Make Libraries Block Porn
COMMUNITY MEDIA
On the Road
INTERNET
Europeans Live Life Online
Cambodia Goes Online
CONTENT
CASE TESTS CONGRESS' ABILITY TO MAKE LIBRARIES BLOCK PORN
This week the Supreme Court will hear the government's appeal as it tries to
revive a law that forces public libraries receiving federal funds to block
access to online pornography and obscenity. The Children's Internet
Protection Act of 2001 has never taken effect because a lower court ruled
that its filtering requirement forces public libraries to violate the First
Amendment rights of users. Paul Smith, a lawyer representing the American
Library Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and other
challengers, says the Children's Internet Protection Act is censorship. "A
library, after all, is an institution that exists to enable private citizens
to access whatever information they may seek," he says. Users should be able
to decide for themselves "where to go in cyberspace and why," he says.
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Joan Biskupic]
(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-03-03-library-porn-usat_x
.htm)
COMMUNITY MEDIA
ON THE ROAD
Jon Alpert, Co-founder of Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV) in New
York City, one of the nation's most honored nonprofit media centers, has
figured out a way to bring to bring his media empowerment show on the road.
With the help of numerous grants and in-kind donations, including a National
Endowment for the Arts' prestigious Leadership Projects for the Millennium
Challenge Grant, DCTV turned a touring bus into a mobile television studio.
As part of its first project, the Cybercar visited 26 cities in 25 days to
create a one-hour show entitled Speak Up New York! for PBS. In each town,
the Cybercar hosted a series of youth civic engagement seminars in, which
led up to a live televised youth Q&A with the state's gubernatorial
candidates on the week before Election Day. Eleven PBS stations broadcast
the dialogue, which had been recorded at the Cybercar. In 2004, Alpert hopes
to take the Cybercar to all 50 states in a Speak Up campaign geared around
the presidential elections.
[SOURCE: Video System, AUTHOR: Cody Holt]
(http://videosystems.com/ar/video_road/index.htm)
INTERNET
CAMBODIA GOES ONLINE
A project underway in Cambodia is on its way to opening community
information centers in 22 provincial capitals around the country. With the
help of $1.2 million in aid money from the United States, the centers will
use wireless technology to enable many Cambodians to go online for the first
time. Project organizers hope that the effort will give Cambodian voters
better access to information ahead of the general election in July. However,
organizers will have to confront considerable technological challenges and
the low standard of voter education.
[SOURCE: BBC Online, AUTHOR: Simon Montlake]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2814387.stm)
EUROPEANS LIVE LIFE ONLINE
The Internet is transforming the social habits of Europeans, according to a
recent study by AOL examining the online habits of surfers in the UK, France
and Germany. The study found that Internet is having an especially profound
impact in the area of personal relationships. One in two people online in
Europe has asked someone out on a date via e-mail and nearly half say they
have sent or received an e-mail only invite to a party or social event.
Philip Rowley, President of AOL Europe, says the Internet is "transforming
how they come together, organize their social lives and even share personal
news. There is no mistaking the profound impact it is having on our social
norms."
[SOURCE: BBC Online, AUTHOR: Cody Holt]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2815007.stm)
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