Dirty Dishes	Dirty Dishes Archive

Dawn has had cause to travel much recently. Several trips involved transfers at the Charlotte, North Carolina, airport. Initially, Dawn was impressed that that burg's city fathers (parents?) have had the good sense to make wireless internet access completely free within all airport terminals-- an excellent civic promotion and tone-setter for a town aspiring to be seen as something other than the largest city in Jesse Helm's home state.

But then Dawn tried to be in touch with colleagues at www.guidemag.com only to discover that the site was blocked. So were other gay-related sites, even those less forward-thinking (i.e., sexually tamer). Very Red State.

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A happier policy is followed at the Primrose Downtown Best Western in Toronto; there, free wireless is dished up for guests without censoring out gay content. Indeed, the very air in Canada seemed fresher.

Now, as distressing as it is that airport bureaucrats in the former Confederacy censor wireless access policy for travelers, far more troubling news comes in from www.boingboing.net which reports that the Los Angeles Times news room censors internet access for its reporters. Evidently, the LA Times uses a product called "WebSense" to make sure their reporters see only the internet that's fit to browse. Not just porn sites are filtered out; as with all nanny software, content-rich sites that cover sex issues are babies thrown out with the racier bath water.

The next time you read a story in the LA Times about China's "deplorable" censorship of the internet, rest assured the paper knows what it's talking about....