Filtering the Internet

Things to consider:

1. Filters may not work very well.
Sites with sexual content are often on the move, and even the most industrious and conscientious filters have trouble keeping up with smut peddlers. If you're really looking for dirty pictures, you can probably find them, filter or no.

2. Filters may work too well.
If the screens are too rigid, they may block students from learning about perfectly normal, natural and non-controversial aspects of human sexuality and scientific information.

They may block students from totally innocent sites needed for their research. Real examples:

• nursery rhymes (Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, where have you been?)
• government physics archive (its access code began with XXX)
• words or phrases like "button" or "Sussex" or "gun control"
• reference sites for breast cancer
• NASA's site about the Mars Exploration Program (http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/marslife/marsexpl.htm)
  

3. Filters may increase attention to that which is forbidden
Adolescents are naturally drawn to the Web for music sites, clothing and cars -- not pornography. The impact of a filtering message might create just the opposite effect.

4. Filters may create a false sense of security.
The decision of whether or not to use a filter in your home, and which one to choose, is a personal decision. Many filters are on the market and are capable of vastly different things, from blocking chat and transmission of information to monitoring your hard drive and keeping history lists. The filter also has to be easy to install and update, and parents need to know about all of its functions so that they can take full advantage of what they have bought.

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