The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri sued a local public library on Tuesday for allegedly blocking websites related to Wicca, a modern pagan religion.
Anaka Hunter of Salem, Mo., said she tried to access websites about Wicca, Native American religions and astrology for her own research, but the library’s filtering software blocked the sites.
According to the ACLU, the software labeled the sites as “occult” and “criminal.”
The Hill: ACLU sues library for blocking Wiccan websites
Bonus: the library director is accused of saying she had an obligation to report people who accessed said sites to the police.
Have we really learned nothing from the West Memphis Three fiasco?
January 3, 2012 at 12:43 pm
I see this whole nanny approach as not just an appalling violation of trust, but the exact opposite of what conservatives say they are for. If it’s a free country, then people have to have the freedom to explore concepts others may find disagreeable, offensive and even dangerous.
September 8, 2012 at 8:00 am
Here’s something new…apparently hotels are now blocking those sites as well. I was recently in a hotel using their internet service. Any time I searched for Wicca, Wiccan, occult, spells, and the like, after about 10 minutes, my internet connection would be blocked entirely. I contacted their ISP service who informed me that they had the right to block sites that were deemed unfit. Huh? To whom?
I’m appalled. What ever happened to free speech and the freedoms we Americans are so very proud of…