PSA: I was at a college library in Madison last month and saw their internet filter list...

They had a whole page of blocked image search terms, mostly meme formats from 2020. The librarian said it was a new rule from the school board to 'reduce distractions'... but half the list was just political cartoons turned into memes. It felt like they were blocking ideas, not just silly pictures. Has anyone else seen filters that seem to target a certain kind of joke?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_wells14d ago

Honestly that part about blocking ideas not just silly pictures really got me. I used to think internet filters were just about keeping people on task. Tbh seeing a list that's mostly political stuff turned into memes changes my mind. It feels less like stopping distractions and more like picking what jokes are okay. That's a weird line for a library to draw.

iris_rivera4414d ago

Yeah, my friend had something like that happen at her community college. She tried to look up a picture of that 'this is fine' dog for a class project about stress, and it was blocked for being a meme. The librarian told her the filter word list was updated to catch 'non academic' images, but that dog is everywhere in articles about burnout. It just felt like they were blocking a whole way people talk about serious stuff now, you know?