Web+Filtering+Guidelines

We should establish national web filtering guidelines.

=**Introduction and Background**=

Five years ago I remember being very cautious about showing a class internet material that I had not already seen. Now with web filtering I often use the internet to answer questions without worrying about what will come up. For example, I had a student ask me how long it takes light to reach earth from the sun. I did not have the answer at the tip of my tongue (8 minutes) so I was able to quickly type in the question and find the answer. Five years ago I remember doing an image search for "Geometry" and a pornographic picture came up. Luckily I was not in front of a class with my projector on. Web filtering has come a long way in the last five years. It has been instrumental in protecting children and relieving stress from teachers while their students are working in a computer lab. (although the students should always be monitored).

In 1996 congress made its first attempt to restrict content on the internet with the Communications Decency Act. In this act congress tried to regulate indecency and obscenity online to protect children. The act was quickly declared unconstitutional in 1997 with the case of Reno vs. ACLU. Congress responded by writing and passing the Child Online Protection ACT in 1998. This act (COPA) was targeted at restricting access by minors to harmful material. It too was struck down as unconstitutional and in 2009 the Supreme Court refused to hear appeals.

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=**Pros for web filtering:**=

1) Web filtering helps protect __children__ from undesirable web content such as hate speech, pornography, and violence. We need to keep in mind that we are not filtering the internet for adults but only for children who do not have the defense mechanisms that adults have and tend to believe everything they read in print.

To go with point one....it is necessary to block certain content as adults(teachers) might have issues looking at "things", chatting, person to person, or just browsing endlessly that may keep them from doing their work effectively as well. Filtering inappropriate content is definitely helpful for the teaching community as a whole. http://www.internet-filters.stbernard.com/

2) Depending on the settings of the filtering software, children are protected against unwanted solicitation.

3) School/Districts are more protected as filtering reduces potential liability risks

4) Filters are becoming more and more useful. The main concerns about filters are that content that should be filtered out is getting through, or that too much useful content is accidentally filtered out because of poor software. While no filter will ever be able to fully protect against all harmful postings, while letting useful credible information through, as filters get better and better they become more and more useful. Progress that has been made in filters themselves. Web filters have been shown to be 95% to 98% effective at filtering out sexually explicit content. The biggest drawback of web filtering is over blocking. Even so many of today's filters over block a maximum of 20% of material.

5) Filtering at a national level gives the parents the ability to monitor which sites their children are visiting. We know that children should never be left unmonitored at a computer but national filtering would take some of the stress off or parents or teachers who have a full class and every student is on a computer. The national monitoring would also protect schools and districts from liability risks.

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