Hyperbole much?
Such a fuss! I know that The BradLands is blocked by some content filters (such as at some workplaces) and I've never really minded. First of all, hey, it's a silly little personal website. Secondly, it's not the government squelching my right to post links about hot boys and Safari extensions. No big. If folks are trying to read my site at work and can't...well, they can wait until they get home like the rest of the grownup world.On the other end of the reaction spectrum, our pal Cory Doctorow noticed that a website to which he contributes, SurfControl for its "adult content". His reaction to this outrage was measured, deliberate and not at all out of proportion.
I just got off the phone with a manager at SurfControl, who assures me that they've corrected the error, but that it will take 24h for the fix to take hold. During that period, users of Surfcontrol's paying customers will be walled off from Boing Boing the same way that Chinese and Iranian citizens are prevented from seeing parts of the Internet due to the judgements of unaccountable authorities in those countries.
Why yes, it's exactly the same way, isn't it? Except, you know, in the important ways that it isn't. Surfcontrol's paying customers are "walled off" from the site because...well, they paid to be. If they didn't but their boss did, they're still not horribly oppressed like the citizens of an unaccountable regime. Their boss is accountable, probably, to a board or a higher boss who'd rather they didn't pleasure surf on company time.
And while I enjoy reading Boing Boing and am far (far, far) from the most prudish person you're likely to meet, I can see how some of their edgier posts might be considered inappropriate in certain environments. "Adult website" might be pushing it but, c'mon, so is comparing what's going on here to arbitrary and evil government censorship.
Comments:
Except that web filters are used in public libraries and schools, important places for information to flow freely. Boing Boing, as an example, is a valuable voice in several important converstaions, and it makes me nervous that high school kids are prevented from hearing it, but are allowed to hear others. The contents and management of filter lists and algorithms are completely opaque, and in these situations, that's arbitrary and evil.
That said, I sometimes wish Boing Boing were slightly more SFW. 
Well, to be clear, I am of the opinion that public amenities such as libraries and schools should offer unfiltered access to the Internet. Schools, like parents in the home, should make an effort to guide students' use of the medium, but in general, yes, I agree that automatic filtering based on arbitrary restrictions is bad.
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Brad L. Graham is a writer, editor, riverboat gambler, fashion consultant, softshoe dancer, professional assassin, freelance factotum and singer of sentimental ballads.The BradLands is his home on the web. 
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