Jury duty today- Texas CHL Forum blocked

[Charles L. Cotton]

How is their limiting what you can view THROUGH their provided WiFi a violation of the First? Are they obligated to provide WiFi? If they turned it off entirely would that also be a violation? I dont see it violating anything.

They are not obliged to provide WiFi, so turning it off isn't a First Amendment violation. The First Amendment prohibits the government from controlling access to information based upon its content. Blocking some websites would be like providing newspapers for prospective jurors to read, but cutting out articles the county doesn't want to to read. Another example would be blocking Fox News on TV but allowing CNN, or allowing jurors to read the Houston Chronicle newspaper, but disallowing the reading of the American Rifleman.

This isn't my area of practice, so I'm not 100% sure that that constitutional protections extend to the Internet.

Chas.

[CoffeeNut]

Moral of the story - avoid jury duty?

*Edit* Don't they issue warrants if you "avoid" it?

[The Annoyed Man]

I access the internet in places like that on my laptop or ipad, through the mobile hotspot on my phone. Tada! No blocking.

[CoffeeNut]

How is their limiting what you can view THROUGH their provided WiFi a violation of the First? Are they obligated to provide WiFi? If they turned it off entirely would that also be a violation? I dont see it violating anything.

They are not obliged to provide WiFi, so turning it off isn't a First Amendment violation. The First Amendment prohibits the government from controlling access to information based upon its content. Blocking some websites would be like providing newspapers for prospective jurors to read, but cutting out articles the county doesn't want to to read. Another example would be blocking Fox News on TV but allowing CNN, or allowing jurors to read the Houston Chronicle newspaper, but disallowing the reading of the American Rifleman.

This isn't my area of practice, so I'm not 100% sure that that constitutional protections extend to the Internet.

Chas.

Most likely it's not the government/county itself doing the blocking. They probably tasked a company or someone in an IT department to install a website monitoring/blocking program similar to one that almost every school in the nation uses. Unless the government specifically designed the software or dictated what is blocked I don't see how it could be an issue. Simply installing software that prevents access to "prohibited" websites within a government controlled facility isn't a first amendment issue, at least to me, because you can simply turn on your cellular network and access the restricted information or if you're a little tech savvy you could always find a version of a proxy server (iirc) and escape the prohibition. It's their WiFi and their network and I'm betting that you have to click a little "accept" button that binds you to their terms of use.

I see it similar to going to certain places and they place "do not change channel or adjust volume" signs on the TV sets. I'm stuck watching what they have on.

I'm not a lawyer though.

[philip964]

I access the internet in places like that on my laptop or ipad, through the mobile hotspot on my phone. Tada! No blocking.

The Harris County Jury Assembly Building is a fancy new one story above grade pavilion with the building in the basement. Like the Louvre Museum in Paris, except without the glass pyramid. Thus you are tucked away underground with no cell phone bars, no 3G, no 4G, no nothing. WiFi has been provided so you have something to do while you wait to be called for a panel. You are however safe from nuclear attack.

Interesting last time I was called for jury duty there were no smart phones, iPads etc. Now everyone there had all that stuff out. Last time it would have been newspapers, magazines or books.

Interesting case. Super defense attorney, Charles Noll. Really did a great job representing his client. He did so good in voir dire that the prosecution had to reduce or dismiss the charges. We all got released.

[tomdavis]

Doing our civic duty is our obligation. I do not believe I have some special access rights because I can access the wifi while on Jury Duty. Let's hope they do not cave to the atheists and block Christian sites.

[Redneck_Buddha]

I'm wondering if it's some vendor like Websense's blacklist that they propagate to their customers. At work, not only is Texas CHL Forum blocked, but I tried to follow a link from Drudge to Infowars and Infowars is blocked as "Hate/Racism/Violence" and think what you will about Alex Jones, that is not what the site itself is about although his comments section gets really sketchy.

[VoiceofReason]

Doing our civic duty is our obligation. I do not believe I have some special access rights because I can access the wifi while on Jury Duty. Let's hope they do not cave to the atheists and block Christian sites.

If we just hope they don’t take away another liberty, but allow them to take this one, you can bet they will take everyone they can.

A person doesn’t have any rights unless they know what they are and are prepared to stand up and fight for them.

[VoiceofReason]

Moral of the story - avoid jury duty?

*Edit* Don't they issue warrants if you "avoid" it?

During voir dire just tell them you know he/she is guilty (just look at his/her eyes) and should get the death penalty.

[Scott Farkus]

It's been a while, but I seem to recall an issue with the Austin Public Library where homeless guys would use the library's computer to watch porn all day. When people complained, I think the City's response was that they couldn't/wouldn't censor anything but they installed some special desk where only the person sitting at the computer could see the screen.

This was before wireless/wifi was the norm, but I don't see how the principle would be any different.

[TomsTXCHL]

The issue of "site blocking" is most likely one of the Domain Name Servers (DNS) used by the host WiFi system. When you connect to their WiFi using DHCP, whereby they give you an IP address, they do also at that time provide routing and DNS services, and if the site uses e.g. OpenDNS (which has numerous filtering options) you can run into the problem of accessing certain websites. Or some of us might say it is not a "problem" but rather a "feature" because OpenDNS is limiting access to porn sites, thus our kids can't just take their phones/pads to the courthouse and surf anything they want in a lobby or other public area.

It may be possible, once you know the acceptable IP range for the local WiFi's router, to change your device's particulars and specify different DNS to use, thereby bypassing the issue. Here is just one link with some examples of DNServers.

[Mel]

Moral of the story - avoid jury duty?

*Edit* Don't they issue warrants if you "avoid" it?

Once you are "mature" (over 70), you have the option of not serving.

Having said that, I intend to continue to serve when called upon.

[C-dub]

I had jury duty today in Dallas County and forgot to check to see if they would block the forum.

I almost got picked for an indecency with a minor under the age of 17 today. During the Voir dire, the prosecutor read the indictment and you could hear the exhale from the entire jury pool for that court.

[canvasbck]

I'm wondering if it's some vendor like Websense's blacklist that they propagate to their customers. At work, not only is Texas CHL Forum blocked, but I tried to follow a link from Drudge to Infowars and Infowars is blocked as "Hate/Racism/Violence" and think what you will about Alex Jones, that is not what the site itself is about although his comments section gets really sketchy.

I was able to get TexasCHLforum whitelisted on our company's network. Part of my job is to track legislation that affects security at our plant. When the parking lot bill was being debated in the TX legislature, I was able to show where this site was providing me with accurate information regarding the bill in almost real time. Management agreed that this site was a valuable source of information for tracking certain relevent information, so it's now whitelisted.

Yeah me!

[The Wall]

Last time I had jury duty about one year ago cell phones had to be turned off once the panel selection started. I was going to say they pay for the WiFi so they can do what ever they want. Changed my mind when I remembered taxpayers foot the bill. I personally don't mind what they do as far as cell phones are concerned. I find it very annoying when folks don't pay attention to their surroundings because their face or ear is stuck to a cell phone. Many people bring books to read so I guess you could bring gun related books to get your firearms fix. Of course you can't call out, receive calls, text, or play video games with a book.