Access to Information - Is it an Inalienable Right? by Razza

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Access to Information - Is it an Inalienable Right?

POSTED BY: RAZZA
UPDATED: Friday, May 15, 2009 13:56
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Friday, May 15, 2009 5:13 AM

I've avoided posting in FFF RWED for a while because of the pervasive vitriol a lot of the discussions degenerate into here, but the "Limits to Power" thread has given me hope again, and I thought I'd throw out a discussion near and dear to my hear as a public librarian.

QUESTION: Is Access to Information an Inalienable Right?

Since we are living through the "Information Age" and access to a lot of information has become a power in and of itself, is it time to consider such access as one of the inalienable rights that Jefferson spoke of in the Declaration of Independance? I'm not speaking about information generated by our government which I believe is our absolute right to have access to, but rather about a much more nebulous concept of information that in a library setting most obviously coalesces into access to public internet stations. Providing access is one of the major ethical tenants of librarianship, and in my opinion the most important. I'm struggling with the idea that everyone has a right to access the internet, however, and especially some of the content which is not really appropriate in a Public Library setting. I tend to lean toward the "right to access" side of the argument just because it goes against my professional training to deny access, but I'm wondering what other folks outside of library world think on this issue. Has the internet become such a pervasive part of our lives, and those who do not have access to it are at such an inherent disadvantage, that denying it to them will result in a violation of their inalienable rights?

Thanks in advance for responding!

-----------------
"Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly."
---Roger Ebert

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Friday, May 15, 2009 5:57 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
I thought I'd throw out a discussion near and dear to my hear as a public librarian.

*Throws Raz a hug for that fact alone*

Public Librarians rock, period.

And yes, I too firmly hold this belief - that we damn well SHOULD enshrine free access to info as a universal right in place next to freedom of speech and religion - were it not for the dual temptations of censorship and surveillance (something which public librarians like yourself were some of the FEW folk who stood up to back in 2002) I would suggest making internet access a function of Government.

Given that they cannot be trusted with it, nor can corporations, I favor not screwing around too much with the current model other than making it a criminal act for a provider to block access to content.

-Frem

PS - Just for giggles, you may enjoy this, our local librarian certainly did when I brought her some of these for mothers day, since I don't have anyone else to dote on for it.
http://www.mcphee.com/items/11696.html

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Friday, May 15, 2009 6:03 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Not according to local police, county sheriffs, politicians and US attorneys here in Knoxville TN.

Traffic cops and govt trial lawyers delete police videotapes and destroy ballistics evidence in criminal trials, and judges let them do it every day. Our sheriff even got 6 criminal convictions for perjury (no jail, not fired until years later for election fraud, gets to keep his $80,000/year pension).

If you can't get it in court discovery, you can't get it by FOIA or state Open Records Act.

Even public law libraries are off limits to the public.

Extra-legal ops is your only hope.

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Friday, May 15, 2009 6:18 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

It isn't.

IT SHOULD BE.

Knowledge is power.

----------------------
We should have strapped him into a glider, filled it nose heavy w/ explosives, and dropped his Allah lovin' ass into a large, empty field. After which, release wild boars into the area so they could make good use of his remains. Now THAT's justice.- rappy

Yeah, that's what Sheikh Issa said. Seems you both have a lot in common.- signy

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Friday, May 15, 2009 7:16 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

"Since we are living through the "Information Age" and access to a lot of information has become a power in and of itself, is it time to consider such access as one of the inalienable rights that Jefferson spoke of in the Declaration of Independence?"

It SHOULD go under the general concept of 'freedom of the press'. When the early US established a postal system "the encouragement given to newspapers through cheap postage was the most striking innovation in early U.S. postal policy." (History of Mail Classification) That was so that information and discussion could flourish. A thriving fourth estate was considered THAT important to democracy.

But conservative constitutional purists would probably say that it only applies to the press, it's just about federal interference, and god damn those activist libruls who want to expand such freedoms to the internet or other media and who would protect it from state, local or BUSINESS interference.

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.

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Friday, May 15, 2009 9:21 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

For folks who can't afford a computer, the library can be their access point to the world of the internet. Prior to getting a laptop and wireless, I stopped at libraries all across the country to check email, webcomics, and FFF.

I'd generally approve of free access to information, except maybe folk's personal information. I might also wish that confidential stuff one person sends another wouldn't end up on Youtube; teen 'sexting' images and videos, for example.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Friday, May 15, 2009 9:36 AM

BLUESUNCOMPANYMAN

I've read the philosophical arguement that information access is a function of liberty, an unalienable right. I cannot recount it here now for lack of memory, but I know I've seen it.

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Friday, May 15, 2009 11:09 AM

SERGEANTX

I don't have much time, but this looks like a promising topic. I'm not really sure about this one. I don't really see how you can make anything that requires a service be provided for you into a right.

But from a practical viewpoint, I tend to see the internet much like public roads. There's not an explicit right to roadways, but they make society function much better and open access to them is boon in all kinds of ways. I think the best way forward is to consider internet access something like a public commons. The problem with that is, if it's a public commons, then the public ought to own it - or most of it anyway, again, more or less like the roads. And for some reason the government taking over internet access gives me the willies.

SergeantX

"It's cold and it's a broken hallelujah"

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Friday, May 15, 2009 12:48 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

I'd lean toward the "right to access" part of it myself. Like Rue, the first thing I thought of when reading the original poster's words was Freedom of the Press. And now, the internet IS the press, in many ways. As with newspapers, the internet might not be free, but there should be a place to access it for free, just as the library has newspapers available.

Where it gets dicey is in the area of personal information and porn. I know there are groups fighting content-filters for library internet access on free speech/free press grounds, but last time I checked, my public library didn't have porn available to be checked out, so why should they have access to it on their computers?

Of course, that gets into the whole problem of who decides what gets censored or blocked. Somebody had suggested a ".xxx" domain exclusively for adult content, which seems like a pretty good idea to me.

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

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Friday, May 15, 2009 1:00 PM

AG05

As with others here, My problem with unlimited access to information occurs at the dividing line between access and privacy. The mere fact that something is in a .gov database somewhere should not make it public record. Be it sex offender registries or concealed handgun licenses, I don't think that personal legal information should be made available to the public.

Mercy is the mark of a great man.
Guess I'm just a good man.
Well, I'm alright.

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Friday, May 15, 2009 1:56 PM

RAZZA

Frem:

To quote Bartles & James and date myself..."Thanks for your support!" I love the librarian tatoos....think I'll get a book and bring it to the Christmas party this year.

I tend to lean toward Rue and Sig and agree that it should be a right, but I have the same reservations that Sarge mentions. Can you make what is essentially a service a right? I think we have to get away from the concept that access to the internet is just a service, because our world is slowly gravitating from a desire for access to an absolute need for it.

Some services are only available through the web these days, and I think that trend will only expand, not contract. We often have folks coming in to use the public internet stations to fill out job applications. There are more and more companies that refuse to take a written application for job openings. I'm not talking about professional jobs for skilled educated workers, I'm talking about entry level minimum wage jobs like running a cash register. I understand that these companies are using this as a mechanism to prescreen applicants, afterall if you don't have the motivation or skills to fill out a simple web application, chances are you won't have the skills to run a cash register. As more and more companies move toward this trend, however, it will only make it more pressing to declare access a right. Even some government services are only available through the internet these days. The state of Virginia no longer prints and distributes state income tax forms to libraries throughout the state, they encourage citizens to "go to the web" and print tax forms. This kind of scenario is sure to become the norm, not the exception.

I agree with everyone about the need for privacy. I did not mean to imply that we have a right to that kind of government generated information.

I would have thought in addition to the "Freedom of the Press" issues, folks might have latched onto the "..freedom of speech.." and the "...right of the people to peacaeably assemble". Afterall, this very forum could be considered a peaceful assembly of folks expressing their freedom to speak. I think that coupled with the freedom of the press would be the most logical strategies for establishing an "access right".

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts, and hope the discussion continues because I think this is a great topic.

-----------------
"Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly."
---Roger Ebert

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