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Letters to the Editor
Please note: The views expressed in these readers' emails are not necessarily those of Net Family News or SafeKids.com; they're published here in support of an important ongoing discussion by and for all caregivers of online kids.
Internet filtering in schools, 3/2/02
(In response to our feature "Filtering's other flaw," 3/8/02)"I own a small computer networking and ISP company in Illinois. We also provide Internet filtering for schools and to dial-up subscribers. I read your newsletter each week with great interest. I look to newsletters like yours as a means to learn about issues and concerns that will help us do a better job of protecting kids who use our service.
"I first got into the filtering business because of my grandkids. They live with my wife and me along with their dad. Four years ago, I was sitting with my grandson when he was about 5 watching him play a computer game just like the book says good parents should. I stepped out of the room for just a minute and even though he couldn't yet read, he somehow found the autodialer on the desktop and while in the kitchen I heard the modem go off and start to connect. That's when I realized that it was unrealistic to watch kids 24/7 and make sure they didn't stumble into something that they shouldn't. Who's to say what they should or shouldn't? At home it's a parental choice. If you want to protect your kids from pornography or messages of hate subscribe to our service or buy your own software. If not, fine, don't.
"In schools the issue is a little different. There are three key reasons for filtering in schools:
"First, it's the law. To those who don't like the law, get it changed. Ask any school adminstrator if they enjoy spending the money for filtering, they'll tell you they'd rather spend it on textbooks but they have no choice. I haven't seen anyone step up and say to their local school district "Look, filtering is wrong, just take 'em off. Screw the federal tax dollars. Just increase my taxes to make up the difference for what you're going to lose."
"Second, there is the issue of liability on the part of schools and libraries. In a litigous society like ours, it's only a matter of time before some library is sued for facilitating the acts of some adolescent who learns how to make a bomb or perform some deviant act on a small child because they learned how on the Internet via a computer in the library. Even if the library or school prevails in court - at what cost? How long before a teacher would sue the school for creating a hostile work environment if some adolescent filled a computer with pornography and left it in plain sight? And once that lawsuit hits the news, the floodgates will be open and it will be open season on schools in courtrooms across the country.
"Third, there is the matter of keeping kids on task while in school. The computers in those schools were purchased to complement the learning process in the classroom, not as a source of recreation. Sure, there's an allowance to let the kids explore but it should be all centered about activities related to what the teachers are trying to impart. Recreation at gaming sites, dating services and on-line ordering are probably not appropriate uses of school equipment.
"As part of our function as a filter administrator for schools, we prepare statistics for the administration showing the top web sites accessed by the school computers as well as blocking statistics. In some schools, the top 20 - 30 sites accessed have no educational value at all by anyones standards. The teachers and librarians often don't have time or staffing to oversee the children the way that the book says they should. Filtering services can act as a supplement to the efforts of the school to enforce appropriate use of school equipment.
"Finally, there is the argument about the child's right to freedom of information. Some of the content that these kids try to access in really appalling. Librarians across the country decry censorship in any form. I work in a lot of schools and libraries in our area. I've yet to see Hustler Magazine or Penthouse on the periodicals shelf. I haven't seen any X rated films in the media centers either. No patron interest? Based upon the blocking statistics that we see in junior high schools and high schools, they would probably be the most used material in the library. No, the librarians exercise censorship every day in little ways and big ways. They try to reflect the values of the community they serve or risk losing their jobs. There's a certain irony there.
"Regarding all of the hullabaloo about blocking errors - hey we're not perfect. We admit it. No system is, but it's better than no system at all which seems to be the alternative. Our filtering service blocks less that 8 tenths of one percent of web requests at the schools we support. Opponents will scream that we blocked 21,000 sites in a month with 2.9 millions accesses. Our hope is that the schools and parents recognize that 2.69 millions site accesses were safe for their kids to access. Do we overblock? Yes, on occasion. The technology coordinators report to us those circumstances and we fix it within one hour of notification. Do we underblock? Once in a while. Same scenario. The schools make the call, we just do the leg work (er, finger work?)
"A recent article that you highlighted seemed to be bent on implying some sort of "religious conspiracy" between filtering companies and the religious right. What was missing was the reality that it's just business. Look, who's most outspoken about family values lately? The vocal portion of the religious community. Academic liberals can look for conspiracy but all I see is a business opportunity to fill a market niche. If a filtering company can add an option to their software that fulfilles a market segment's needs. God love-em! (if you'll excuse expression). Keeping the blocking list secret? Of course, that's how filtering companys make their money. If I gave you the list that I spent so much money compiling someone would publish it and two things would happen. 1- All of the pornographers on the list would immediately change their URL to get off the list. 2 - some "information is free" fanatic would put it out as a freeware program and hurt my business. Filter management is not a precise business. Eveyone knows that porn is one of the top categories on the web. In the old days parents just kept their kids away from the "red light district" now it's being delivered up close and personal to our living rooms and classrooms.
"Finally, I'd like to make a couple of points. Shortly after we opened our dial-up filtering service, I was reviewing our weekend blocking statistics and found that we had blocked over 1200 web site accesses in about 2 hours (do the math, that's one block every 6 seconds!). Our service was small and we didn't have that many customers so that statistic jumped out at me. While we can't normally see who accesses what with our software, I was able to deduce from the time frame and who was logged in at the time, what user initiated the blocking frenzy. It was the teenaged son of a long time friend who had signed up out of concern for his son's obsession with porn. The sites accessed were legitimate porn, all right, and we had done the job dad had hired us to do. Did we trample on the son's rights? I don't think dad thought so or cared. . . . and, no, we didn't tell the dad.
"The second instance involved a school. Again, we had a spike in "porn interest" at a local school and reported it to the administration. There was an average of about 400 porn attempts per day from 1 computer in the school during school hours. When the school investigated, they found the computers were being used by a teacher in a public area not students. Does anyone want to risk their kids at a junior high school where a male teacher claims "I was only testing the filtering system" 400 times a day for the 2 weeks we tracked? Liberal academic testing for overblocking or potential pedophile? Who's willing to let their kids take the chance? Would it have been any better if it had been a 14 year old boy? I'm not willing to risk my 8 year old granddaughters safety. Are you?
"Why do we have filtering software in schools? It's for the same reason that most parents drive their kids to school. For the same reason some schools have metal detectors at the doors and cops in the halls. It's just not safe for kids any more. If I overblock a site. It's probably a mistake. Tell me, I'll fix it within an hour. It's no right wing conspiracy to deprive anyone of their constitutional rights. It's just me, making a living and trying to protect kids."
Jeff H.
Applied Computer Technologies
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