Sites call for censorship awareness
As Banned Books Week kicks off, a number of sites plan to recognize the event and call attention to online and offline censorship.
A dozen or more sites, including the American Library Association and Book Stacks Unlimited, plan to offer content recognizing the event, mostly by offering information about books that have been banned in the past and by calling attention to book censorship they say still exists.
"We really felt strongly about the topic and wanted to go full force in taking a look at what?s going on today," said Jenna Schnuer, senior editor at BookWire, an online site that provides reviews and information about books. In addition to providing a historical timeline charting banned books in the United States, the site will offer essays on censorship from popular authors.
Among the authors is Linda Jaivin, whose book Eat Me caused one popular Web filtering program to block a bookstore?s site. The software, called Cyber Patrol, is designed to help parents keep their children from accessing sexually explicit material online. But when the Booksmith, a San Francisco bookseller, featured information about Jaivin?s book, Cyber Patrol blocked access to the store?s entire Web site.
"Most of [the programs] won?t include a list of all the sites they?re filtering," said Shari Steel, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates civil liberties in cyberspace. "There is a real risk of the software running amok."
Even though the company refuses to disclose the list, users are free to see if a particular site is blocked by visiting a page on Cyber Patrol?s Web site, she added.
Other sites devoting space to banned books starting Monday include the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.