Re: [LM_NET] HIT: Internet Filtering in Schools - Survey Results

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

> Date:    Fri, 1 Sep 2006 12:44:04 -0600
> From:    "LEROY D. SMITH" <leroysmith98@GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: HIT: Internet Filtering in Schools - Survey Results

I just read the entire survey.

Of significant concern was one finding:

Question 12: 38.8 % of districts are blocking gay and lesbian sites and 9.4%
are blocking non-traditional religion.

Hey folks this is unconstitutional. It is a  violation of freedom of speech
and freedom of religion!!!

There is also another finding of concern with respect to process to unblock:

ALL librarians should have the authority to temporarily override the system
to view a site and to allow a student access. And this is a process that
should happen very promptly. Given that when someone overrides the system a
report is made to system administration there is no risk of abuse of this
process. 

The primary reason that the US Supreme Court upheld CIPA was on the basis
that prompt override of the filter was possible. One of the swing vote
justices specifically stated in his concurring opinion that if the filter
was not implemented in a way so that it could be easily and promptly
overridden to provide access to sites that are inappropriately blocked, this
would give rise to a cause of action for unconstitutional implementation of
the filter. 

And for those of you in districts that are using 8E6 Technologies, I suggest
an additional investigation.

Look here: American Family Association (radical right organization) at
http://www.afa.net. Now scan down the left hand side of this page to AFA
Internet Filter and click. This takes you to a service offered by
Bsafeonline. Now look down the side of this page to Partners and click on
Strategic. Note that their content management partner is 8e6 Technologies.
Click on this and it will take you to the 8e6 site. Note under Customer
Solutions that they sell to education, but click on SOHO/Home. Scan down
this page and click on the "for more information <click> here." Hmm. Look
familiar? Now on this page click on the FAQ. Look at the URL.
http://bsecure.custhelp.com/plus a bunch of stuff. Now go to just
http://bsecure.custhelp.com. Hmm. Look familiar?

Lastly, go to this page on the Way Back Machine site:
http://web.archive.org/web/19990125084521/http://afa.net/. This is a FAQ
from AFA in 1999. Scan down to "Has AFA made an impact? and it states: "AFA
teams up with Log-On Data, to market X-Stop, a powerful Internet pornography
filter." Log-on Data is the predecessor to 8E6.

So do we have an extremely conservative religious right organization "in
bed" with a filtering software company used in public schools and decides
what sites are appropriate or inappropriate for students? Looks that way to
me. Got any constitutional concerns about this? YOU BETCHA!

PLEASE feel free to convey this message to your administrator and your
school attorney. 

Nancy
-_ 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Cruelty, Threats, and Distress, a resource for educators, is now available
online at http://cyberbully.org.

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Use the Internet
Safety and Responsibly. Jossey-Bass (forthcoming)

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