[Update: 2017-07-12] As expected, last night’s discussion was lively. While there were considerable areas of agreement (beginning with the moral imperative to combat child sex trafficking), there were also some provocative debates about the role of major tech companies, the boundaries of speech, and the best options for moving forward. Kudos to host Cheri Roberts…
[Updated 2017-04-12] The video from last night’s broadcast is embedded at the bottom of the page in two separate segments. April 11 — Barring any sudden dramatic developments in the Middle East or elsewhere, the ABC news show “Nightline” will run a special edition this evening on the phenomenon known as “passing the trash.” The…
Just about twenty years ago, in the wake of the passage of the Communications Decency Act, I began researching what would become my first mainstream book: Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of Pornography in the Cyber Age. It was published by Routledge (now part of Taylor & Francis) in 2000 and remains one of the only…
2016-06-21 Cybertraps for Librarians from Frederick Lane A presentation delivered via GoToMeeting on June 21, 2016 to the “Intellectual Freedom and Censorship” class at Simmons College, Boston, MA. Feedback from Dr. Laura Saunders, Assistant Professor at the Simmons School of Library and Information Science: Thank you for a fantastic lecture on the history of decency…
The town of Fair Lawn, in northeastern New Jersey, lies just under 5,700 miles from Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel. The two communities have widely-differing histories: the former is a bedroom community created by the New Jersey Legislature just 92 years ago, in 1924, while the latter is one of the oldest cities in…
Oklahoma is included in the list of states I’ve visited during my lecturing career, but just barely; in 2012, when I was participating in a professional development conference for teachers and administrators in the Fort Smith, AR school district, I took the opportunity to drive across the Arkansas River and have lunch at the 4…
Child suicide is a serious problem in the United States. According the Center for Disease Control, over 4,500 young people between the ages of 10 (!) and 24 kill themselves each year. It is the second leading cause of death for that age group. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) children are particularly at risk.…
It was with special interest that I watched last night’s segment of the John Oliver show, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” In the middle of last week, I received a call from one of the show’s researchers, and had an interesting discussion about various state and federal laws that might apply to revenge porn,…
