Public Library Intenet: RevLeft access blocked.

[Oswy]

I found out last week that the public libraries under the authority of Newcastle City Council (England) don't allow access to the RevLeft website - when you try to access it a 'security' screen pops up and informs you that the site is blocked because it is associated with "racism and hate". How fucking undemocratic is that? It would be interesting to know who, or what government body, gets to decide which websites cannot be accessed through public libraries.

Discriminating bastards!

It would also be interesting to hear from others where else in the world this kind of public library internet discrimination occurs.

[Aeval]

I think most (all?) the public libraries in the UK use the same filter system (which seems to be the same one as a lot of schools use) which for some reason flags revleft as racist and hateful. I dunno to what extent that has been done deliberately or whether something has just scanned the site and decided it sounds dodgy based on content - but bearing in mind how many websites there are I'm guessing noone has actually sat down and actively decided to block revleft.

Is there not somewhere you can click to tell the admin that the flagged site isn't actually hateful? Often they'll unblock it if asked, when I was at school loads of random sites were blocked (including hotmail and the bbc at one point because it thought they were porn :lol:) but it was just the system being over zealous and they were happy to unblock them when asked

[ken6346]

That's hilarious; revleft is made up of anarchists and socialists, all of whom are anti- racism and hate. Bizarre eh?

Ah well, it's a proprietary filter, so I wouldn't worry too much about it - it's probably mostly automatic too, so any website affiliated with anti- modern establishment movements would probalby be blocked. Most people don't use libraries as their primary means of internet access. Once the government starts filtering internet based on arbitrary claims of political dissent, it's time to look out (copyright claims are one thing; they can be dealt with later, but this is something we neither want nor need happening).

[Il Medico]

Whatever program US and UK (don't know about others) govs use blocks it.

But why is this in discrimination?

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I was able to get Revleft unblocked from the public computers at Slough Library, by making a complaint - I suggest you do the same if it bothers you.

[Red Commissar]

A number of school districts where I live, that is K-12 type stuff, have Revleft on a similar block list. My university doesn't block websites though.

I've not looked a the library though. TBH when I use computers at the library it's mainly for looking up general news or checking something real quick. I wouldn't be surprised if it was on a block list though, it's fairly filtered.

Not sure how this fits under "discrimination" though.

[heiss93]

MY guess is that its banned because of the anti-fascism section. Even Democratic Socialists of America is banned because it contains the word fascist.

[mosfeld]

Something like this should work.

http://translate.google.com/ (http://translate.google.com/#) -> From [any language you want] to [English] -> Insert RevLeft (http://www.revleft.com/vb/) link

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=is&sl=fi&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Frevleft.com%2F

[Peace on Earth]

My school filter (U.S.A.) as well as public library allows it. The best you could do is contact an administrator. I doubt anyone could find hateful and racist remarks on this site.

[andrew]

My school filter in Texas allows it.

[Red Commissar]

MY guess is that its banned because of the anti-fascism section. Even Democratic Socialists of America is banned because it contains the word fascist.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. Some schools obtain these lists from a security provider, but unfortunately many times it seems to focus on the density of certain words. I don't think they check really a lot of times, and it's because of that many of these places would probably remove it if you made enough of an argument for it.

The fact that stuff like this get through,

www.martinlutherking.org

Makes me think they don't take a look at it many times but chose to have prepared lists when they buy the programs.

[Burn A Flag]

I can get through to Revleft at my school too. But I have to type in .org instead of .com

[gorillafuck]

Why is this in discrimination?


My school filter in Texas allows it.
It's surprising that Texas of all places allows it, since schools in Texas are notoriously conservative when it comes to textbooks and curriculum.

[Aloysius]

I can get to it (Revleft), but I've never posted, because I forget the "r" in my username and gave up.

[Oswy]

Why is this in discrimination?


...

:blink:

If a public library deliberately blocks public access to a left-leaning website, then it is discrimination against left-leaning people who use the library.

As some of the replies have suggested it may not be the case that RevLeft has been deliberately targeted for exclusion, but I didn't know that when I made the OP.

[NKVD]

:blink:

If a public library deliberately blocks public access to a left-leaning website, then it is discrimination against left-leaning people who use the library.

As some of the replies have suggested it may not be the case that RevLeft has been deliberately targeted for exclusion, but I didn't know that when I made the OP.

I think the discrimination forum is for discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, etc., not discrimination based on politics... For one thing, I completely support discrimination against fascists.

[gorillafuck]

:blink:

If a public library deliberately blocks public access to a left-leaning website, then it is discrimination against left-leaning people who use the library.
This is a forum for discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.

[Oswy]

I think the discrimination forum is for discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, etc., not discrimination based on politics... For one thing, I completely support discrimination against fascists.

Well, this is the heading:


Discrimination Forum to address issues of social discrimination; especially those related to gender, sexuality, race, and identity. I think that discrimination against leftists fits the notion of 'social discrimination'. I don't know who is 'in charge' but if the discrimination forum excludes the rasing of discrimination against leftists then I think that's pretty shit.

[Q]

Well, this is the heading:

I think that discrimination against leftists fits the notion of 'social discrimination'. I don't know who is 'in charge' but if the discrimination forum excludes the rasing of discrimination against leftists then I think that's pretty shit.

I believe this is more properly addressed as a democratic issue and thus a political one.

That said, we often get blocked automatically because programs that crawl through the website (socalled "spiders") detect certain words ("fascist", "bombing", "terrorist", etc) without a proper context. If you raise the issue at your library, it'll get deleted from the block list most of the time.

If it doesn't, well, then we have a real issue :)

[Oswy]

I believe this is more properly addressed as a democratic issue and thus a political one.

That said, we often get blocked automatically because programs that crawl through the website (socalled "spiders") detect certain words ("fascist", "bombing", "terrorist", etc) without a proper context. If you raise the issue at your library, it'll get deleted from the block list most of the time.

If it doesn't, well, then we have a real issue :)

I accept that the library isn't necessarily deliberately discriminating against leftists after reading replies like your own, but I'm now interested in why there's hostility to the raising of the issue of discrimination against leftists in the 'discrimination' section here.

If your boss saw you on TV at a leftist demo and sacked you or sought some other way to humiliate you, would that not be discrimination? If some right-wing nut spat in your face because you walked past him in a Che t-shirt, would that not be discrimination? It's fair enough to call it a 'political' issue I guess, but it's still an issue of discrimination against an individual because of their identity - and doesn't the discrimination section of the forum specifically include 'identity' as an issue legitimate for discussion?

I really don't understand why I'm coming under attack here :crying:

[Q]

It's a matter of how we choose to design our forums. All subjects are connected at one level or another, but for comprehension sake it wouldn't be good to just have one giant subforum in which all topics go. So, we made different subforums for different subjects and sometimes a topic can belong to multiple subjects and is it at the staff discretion of where it belongs best, even if that may sound somewhat abstract and artificial.

[Communist]

.

Oswy, people suggest different forums all the time for topics. Back on topic, did you ask your library to unblock the site yet?

Moved.

.