A man using the British Library’s wi-fi network was denied access to an online version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet because the text contained “violent content”.Author Mark Forsyth was writing his book in the library, and needed to check a line from the famous play.
His request was blocked by the network’s filter, and he was informed that his attempt had been logged.
One security expert said the incident highlighted the “dysfunction” of internet filters.
The British Library said the fault was due to a newly installed wi-fi service from a third-party provider, and that Hamlet had since been made accessible.
“The upgraded service has a web filter to ensure that inappropriate content cannot be viewed on-site,” a spokesperson said.
“We’ve received feedback from a number of users about sites which were blocked, but shouldn’t have been. We’re in the process of tweaking the service to unblock these sites.”
Filters ‘pointless’
Internet filters have recently come under increased scrutiny, after the government announced that pornography will be automatically blocked by UK internet providers, unless customers choose otherwise.
Digital rights activists raised concerns about the move, fearing that the lists of “banned” sites could be expanded to include pages that should be publicly available.
Prof Ross Anderson, a security expert at Cambridge University, told the BBC that internet filters were “pointless” and that it was “completely inappropriate” to have one in the British Library.
He added: “Everything that is legal should be available over the library’s wi-fi network. The only things they should block are the few dozen books against which there are court judgements in the UK.
“One of the functions of deposit libraries is to keep everything, including smut.”
-BBC
