HIT: Bess Internet Filter experiences

["Rita N. Doyle, k-12 Library Media Specialist,]

Here are the first twelve or so responses I rec'd when I asked for people who
had experience with BESS, the Internet filter:
our district uses it.  I like some parts of it and don't like others.

I find it very slow and it slows down your access to the net immensely. It
takes much longer to search for a cite, for sites to come up etc. I still  am
not staisfied
with it.  We are getting it filtered through our ISP and this could be part of
the  problem
although I think any way it would come would slow down your  connection.
Would
be happy to know if there are positive experiences out there.

 We are using Bess this year.  My experience is limited since it is
new to us, but it does a good job of blocking things like playboy.com.
You can still research topics like breast cancer and Anne Sexton.  I
checked to see if it would let me in.  I was blocked from a site when
checking reviews of digital cameras, but I have a password to access
blocked sites so I was able to check it out.  Turns out it was a
newsgroup and there were also some obscene things posted there.  Your A
site should be able to give you the ability to bypass Bess if you need
to.  It's easy if you are authorized to do it (and you should be as the
librarian).  The worst problem I have had with the proxy server is
getting connected to my electronic resources.  I got Searchbank and SIRS
up and running finally today and I've been going around in circles with
getting connected since school started.  I can explain more about that
if you want to know, but to keep it short I'll just say you _can_
connect to electronic resources using a proxy server.
  Bess has a homepage with links to Internet Public Library, Yahoo,
science and nature resources, school resources, reference, politics and
government resources, etc.
  FWIW, I haven't found anything objectionable about Bess in the short
time that we have used it.  I know I haven't been able to tell you much.
Hope this little bit of info helps.

well, i tested our BESS recently:  i was investigating a web site on
McCarthyism that had a page of resources, one of which went to the
Playboy Foundation.  i just followed it, imagining myself to be a curious
student.  i eventually navigated all the way to a playboy centerfold.

i then just tried www.playboy.com.  again--i got right through. so i have their
phone
number and plan to call sometime soon to let them
know that this happened.  i would think that playboy would be one of the
most obvious sites to block . . .

i'd be interested in hearing other reports on how BESS works, if it is
not customary to reply to the list as a whole.

I have just moved to a high school where the library will be hooked up
to a computer lab with direct internet access through Bess.  I don't
know whether students will have a problem locating information.  But, I
can tell you that the computers located in the teacher's lounges of each
school building in our district are also filtered through Bess.

Bess definitely slows down search time.  It sometimes takes forever to
get to a location.  We have also had numorous problems with the Bess
Fileserver itself.  When it goes down you lose all internet access until
it is again up and running.  It was a minor inconvenience with one
computer but it will be a major problem in a lab setting.

I'm glad that I'm not in charge of my school's lab.  I don't want to
face the wrath of a teacher and class that has been waiting days or
weeks to use the lab and then finds the system down.

If you get override capabilities, please let me know. Maybe I could
convince my supervisors that we should also have that capability.  Thanks!

Do you have override potential? We don't, as far as I know. I've been
denied strange stuff, like adding my signature to a web site I've been able
to access. Weird. But it's nice to show parents how it works by typing in
something like
the Playboy site and have Bess refuse it. Really impresses
parents. I would definitely like to find out how it screens stuff. As I
said, parts of it are strange. Yes, we have the same access for both
primary and high school (maybe even Jr College, come to think of it!). But
I feel that it's fair. Doesn't exclude AIDS or breast cancer or some
controversial political sites because of older students. My great concern
is a parent finding something on Gay rights (allowed) and having a fit.
Hasn't happened yet....

  Bess has been installed on our WAN for the area BOCES  (about 15
school districts now, I think).  Our regional library group has also
expressed concerns; as of now, we are waiting to see how this actually
impacts on usage.  I do not have it in my school yet, but my husband does,
and his only experience was a "block" on an Egyptian history site (and he
emailed the BESS to have the site cleared, stilll waiting to hear), and a
site about homosexual relationships in ancient Egypt that he COULD access,
so we're just going to wait and see....

I have the password to override -- I'm not presently on Bess because of the
slowdown it caused on my system however, I was the only one who had it. If
the teachers wanted an override they asked me. I find it is dangerous to
give out any password to too many. Somehow it gets leaked out.

Thanks to all who responded.  Any more discussion on this??? Rita

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