A very SAFE and PRIVACY-conscious adventure (4)

Conan the Librarian slowly explored the strange land, keeping to himself, very safely avoiding any fights or other dangerous activity, and visiting libraries--because that's the Frigid Northland Way (TM).

I would say that privacy is a double-edged sword, but that would just invite tangents. So we won't go there.

As Internet users, it seems to me that the most effective tool (I want to say weapon to fit the theme but, feh.) we have to protect our safety & privacy online is awareness. Certainly there are problems in our world. But the really disturbing ones are far easier to identify and overcome than the insidious ones that you never even notice. Simply recognizing that a problem exist is a huge first step in addressing it, and the more we keep in the back of our mind the universality and anonymity of the web and the potential consequences, the better protected we'll be.

There are no guarantees in life. There is always a possibility one could be mugged while crossing the street--but endeavoring to never again cross a street is neither practical nor does it effectively eliminate the risk of muggings. Taking reasonable precautions won't guarantee a life without risk, but there's no such thing as a life without risk, and reasonable precautions can minimize that risk.

That, as I said (well, typed), is us as Internet users. But I have read enough Spider Man to know that great power brings with it great responsibility, and we wield the power of the library (cower in fear before our bibleophiliac might!--or something like that). As many patrons' doorway to the Internet, we want to help make people aware of these issues so that they can best protect their own security and privacy. That's the easy part.

Then comes the aforementioned insidious stuff. How much respect do we have for our patrons' right to privacy? It's so easy to decide on policies without considering their ramifications--but if we are going to make rules disallowing patrons to view certain sites than we are committing ourselves to spend time monitoring patrons instead of doing other library work and more importantly we are committing ourselves to spying on patrons--ultimately the question arises, do we have the right? Do patrons deserve the right to look for Internet resources on living with cancer or on how to get a divorce, without library staff glancing over their shoulder to make sure they aren't playing games on a no-game computer? If so what other approaches can we take to discouraging gangs (no gang websites) or making sure certain computers are available for research? And if not how do we justify the denial of library resources--especially to those who can't afford to have computers at home or abused spouses afraid of seeking the information they need?