Here’s a headline to conjure with: “Mayor of Boston bans Boing Boing“. Apparently some guy named Jake tried to access Boing Boing from Boston’s free WiFi network and got a page back that read “Access to This Webpage is Restricted”! The notice was “topped by the seal of the Mayor of Boston no less!” There’s a followup on Seth Finkelstein’s Infothought blog that reveals the reason why the Web access was blocked:
“It looks like the “Banned combination phrase” was the following link, because of the search with SafeSearch set to “off”: Much more of Biskup on Boing Boing Link
Seth very accurately describes the blocking: “Arbitrary and capricious” seems the relevant characterization. You can see what a dangerous path the City of Boston is taking by enforcing global filtering of the Web when accessed through a publicly funded Internet service: They are adopting the role of censor which has got to be an invitation for every group that defends free speech to take them to court. Let the lawsuits begin! Thanks to Gibbs Irregular Miles Baska for the heads up.
