EFF published a major report on censorware today. What we did was, we googled all the keywords from all the US core curriculum, then checked to see if the censorware employed by schools and libraries would let you get at the top curriculum-related links (with human intervention to determine whether the pages were really relevant to the curriculum). In a nutshell: censorware stinks, and if your school or library uses it, it will stop you from using it to look up timely, relevant information related to your curriculum.
+ The use of Internet blocking software in schools cannot
help schools comply with the law because schools do not and
cannot set the software to block only the categories
required by the law, and because the software is incapable
of blocking only the visual depictions required by CIPA.+ Blocking software does not protect children from exposure
to a large volume of material that is harmful to minors
within the legal definitions. Blocking software cannot adapt
adequately to local community standards. Most schools
already have in place alternatives to Internet blocking
software, such as adoption and enforcement of Internet use
policies, media literacy education, directed use, and
supervised use.+ Blocking software in schools damages educational
opportunities for students, both by blocking access to web
pages that are directly related to the state-mandated
curriculums and by restricting broader inquiries of both
students and teachers. Teachers and students 17 years or
older (most high school juniors and seniors) should be
exempt, yet suffer the consequences of CIPA implementation.After testing nearly a million web pages related to
state-mandated curriculums, the researchers found that of
the web pages blocked, 97 – 99% of a statistically
significant sample were blocked using non-standard,
discretionary, and potentially illegal criteria beyond what
CIPA requires.
