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Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

richardosgood.com

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Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#11

Post by limit35 »

copper-float wrote: post #5

I think calling them "banned" is so disingenuous. There are actual banned books that are illegal to own in the United States. None of these "banned books" come anywhere close to meeting that criteria. Very cool project nonetheless!

It is not disingenuous, maybe a little loose on the 'meaning', but your definition is rather narrow. The Color Purple has been challenged many times in order to be removed from public library circulation and public school curriculums. Annie on my Mind was banned from the Kansas Public School system and subject to book burnings at the federal courthouse. The removal of the book (ban?) was overturned by the court. There are many similar examples of this on banned book lists. Colloquially, the term 'banned' is used often to encompass books that are actually banned, challenged, or illegally removed from public spaces due to a group actively censoring literature for various reasons. I think that general use is fine rather than being pedantic about it considering the social and intellectual costs involved. To call a book that is removed from circulation illegally not banned because there is no law banning it is foolish, since that is a reoccurring tactic among groups applying censorship on communities.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#13

Post by incompatible »

Nice, but:

"Since the device is a light bulb, it would be difficult to detect and likely to go unnoticed."

I doubt it would be any harder to shut down than any other public-access WiFi device, just a bit of experimentation with turning off power / devices would find it.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#14

Post by simplyluke »

K0balt wrote: post #8
copper-float wrote: post #5

I think calling them "banned" is so disingenuous. There are actual banned books that are illegal to own in the United States. None of these "banned books" come anywhere close to meeting that criteria. Very cool project nonetheless!

Actual banned books that are illegal to own? Such as?

Zero books are banned by name in the USA. Certain content is: Classified documents (although this is just illegal to share as the one with the original clearance, not to publish/read/possess after), child abuse material, and copyright violations all come to mind.

The majority of "banned books" are books that a random school district/religious school in a conservative part of the country elected not to include in their library at some point. Many of them are required reading in many other school districts and some of the most well known books of the 20th century.

The closer-to-banned ones are generally not included on banned-book-reading-lists and are banned on major retail platforms and long out of print and tend to be racist and/or genuinely subversive to liberal democratic principles. Most of these tend to be some of the most-downloaded-books-on-the-internet, and are also in no way illegal to own in the US - though possession of many is illegal in much of the EU.

An interesting case is United States vs Progressive inc [0] in which the US dropped a lawsuit to prevent a magazine from publishing a how-to guide on building an H bomb and Defense Distributed vs United States Department of State [1] in which the US federal government settled and allowed for the publishing of 3d printed gun files online, previously prevented under arms exports claims.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Progressive,_.... 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Distributed_v._United_...

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#17

Post by greenavocado »

K0balt wrote: post #8
copper-float wrote: post #5

I think calling them "banned" is so disingenuous. There are actual banned books that are illegal to own in the United States. None of these "banned books" come anywhere close to meeting that criteria. Very cool project nonetheless!

Actual banned books that are illegal to own? Such as?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_govern...

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#18

Post by VoodooJuJu »

simplyluke wrote: post #14
K0balt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual banned books that are illegal to own? Such as?

Zero books are banned by name in the USA. Certain content is: Classified documents (although this is just illegal to share as the one with the original clearance, not to publish/read/possess after), child abuse material, and copyright violations all come to mind. The majority of "banned books" are books that a random school district/religious school in a conservative part of the country elected not to include in thei…

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Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#20

Post by gustavus »

zuzululu wrote: post #19

I'm surprised there are banned books with 1st amendment exists in America? I'm curious as to what these are. I think its rather silly that books can be banned.

You would be correct there are no "banned books" in America.

When people say "banned book" they mean that a certain level of government such as a school board or municipality has "banned" them from being in a public (often school) library.

But the headline "In [state I disagree with] they are banning books that have [ideas I agree with]" makes a lot more headlines and clicks.

Then people run with the phrase "banned books" to make things sound worse than they are.

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