[Foundation-l] Image filter brainstorming: Personal filter lists

Wed Dec 7 21:47:38 UTC 2011

On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 6:59 PM, Marc A. Pelletier <marc at uberbox.org> wrote:
> On 01/12/2011 7:58 AM, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
>> "[...] yes, we may be building up a list of categories that could be
>> reused by censorware sellers, but that’s not our primary intention."
>
> I'm sorry, but who the fsck cares about intentions?  The road to hell is
> paved with the best ones.  The net effect is the only thing that counts.
>
> A personal filter that allows individual editors to hide things they
> don't want to see is okay-ish, and the concept is something I can get
> behind.  I still think we're over-engineering this - a simple "hide all
> images everywhere/on this page" button with a trivial "show/hide that
> specific image" toggle is more than adequate; but I'm not fundamentally
> opposed to a more elaborate system *iff* it can be demonstrated to not
> be usable by third parties to find out -- let alone use or impose --
> what those settings may be.
>
> Building a system that can (and /will/) be used for censorship is a
> fork-level nonstarter, and "but we didn't intend it for that" is not a
> justification.  Prejudicial labeling is already *known* to be usable
> (and used) for censorship; why do you think librarians oppose any form
> of it as a matter of principle?
>
> Surely nobody here has the hubris to believe that we, amazingly, know
> better than what over half a century of experience has taught our
> predecessors?
>

Uhm, that was not actually what I wrote, but what I was rebutting....

-- 
--
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]