Internet Safety

Filtering and Blocking Software

If you have children at home, particularly young children, and Internet access from a computer, you may want to consider censoring the information content that they have access to. This can be done using filtering and blocking software. The terms can be used interchangeably, as filtering and blocking ultimately provide the same service. The software makes decisions on the data that you access, disallowing it if it meets certain criteria, like pornographic or violent. Choosing to use filtering and blocking software on your computer will be a subjective decision that you make for your family. What may work for your family might not work for other families. According to a May, 1999 Annenberg study, The Internet and the Family, 31% of U.S. Households with access to the Internet use Internet filtering software.

The Tools

There are many software products which provide Internet filtering and/or blocking. Some of the products are: Netnanny, Surfwatch (leader), Cyberpatrol (which is also used to provide filtering to America Online), Cybersitter, Safesurf, Igear, Net Shepherd and Cybersnoop. A more complete lists, with features and review can be found at www.safekids.com/

Internet browsers can also provide basic content filtering. The filtering allows the browser to protect you from going to sites that are not rated, or sites that do not meet the rating criteria you elect. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, it can be too limiting. You should also be aware of how the browser determines the ratings for a site. Netscape uses the SafeSurf ratings system. Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the RSACi ratings system which is sponsored by the Internet Content Rating Association.

How They Work

Most of the filtering and blocking software products work on a pre-defined list of offensive sites in a series of pre-defined categories. Where once the primary concern of parents was blocking pornography on the Internet, with the recent spree of unprovoked school killings, blocking violence and hate content have become equally important. Typical categories of information that is blocked are: violence, profanity, sex, nudity, gambling, intolerance, cult, drug, militant/extremist, tobacco and alcohol. Additionally, there are several content ratings systems available to aid in controlling inappropriate content. These ratings systems work on the premise that the site designer will voluntarily rate their site, based on predefined, and standard set of categories based on the Platform for Independent Content Selection protocol (PICS).

Some of the products do more than just filter web sites. For example giving you the option to limit your child’s time online. America Online offers a "kids-only" account, which blocks young users from all but full-time-monitored chat rooms and prescreened kid-friendly sites. You can also limit which email addresses are eligible to send email to your child.

The Downside

There is ongoing debate over what should be filtered by software and who should make those decisions. Some of the software makes the decisions for you, maintaining a static list of sites, keywords and rules. If this doesn’t suit your needs, you should purchase software that allows you to lend a hand in the decision making. Most commercial products do not reveal their list of banned sites, prompting debate from the anti-censorship supporters. Another variable to factor in is that the Internet is growing everyday. There may instances where new sites are created before your filtering software has a chance to update. Some software products will require you to subscribe (with ongoing fees) to keep the filter list current.

Some content, like pictures and music cannot be easily filtered. By their very nature, the content that you might find objectionable, lyrics to a song or nude photographs, are not exposed to the search mechanisms used by the filters.

Alternatives

Monitoring and logging software (see Tracking), using family-safe search engines (see Searching) and keeping your computers in an open space within home are all valid alternatives to using filtering and blocking software.

Censorship can be a sensitive issue to some people. As you assess your options for filtering software, you might consider the anti-censorship point of view. Visit  www.peacefire.org, for example.

Legislation

There are several forms of legislation that have been proposed to address the issue of inappropriate content flowing to your computer. Worthy of note are the Communications Decency Act of 1996, The Child Online Protection Act and the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 1999.

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 Amended the Communications Act of 1934 to make publishing "indecent" or "patently offensive" material on the Internet a federal crime. The U.S. Supreme Court found portions of the law unconstitutional in June 1997.

The Child Online Protection Act commonly referred to as "son of CDA" or "CDA II," which makes it a crime to allow children access to Internet content deemed "harmful to minors." Also protects copyrights on Internet materials, making it a crime to circumvent encryption or other high-tech protections against illegal copying. This was signed into law in October 1998, but challenged by the ACLU and online publishers prior to being signed into law February 1^st, 1999. The Supreme Court issued an injunction to halt enforcement of the law. It is still tied up in appeals.

If passed, the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 1999 would require the installation and use by schools and libraries of a technology for filtering or blocking material on the Internet, on computers with Internet access, to be eligible to receive or retain universal service assistance.

Last updated:  May 12, 2000