Leah Dantinne

Filtering Elective

July 10, 2003

 

Internet Filtering

 

Pros

 

  1. Filtering protects children from seeing explicit material.

 

  1. Filtering can be used to eliminate annoying pop-up ads.

 

  1. Filtering allows parents/employers/teachers to track internet usage and observe sites that were visited.

 

  1. Many filters offer control over the disclosure of personal information such as name/address/email address.

 

  1. Many filters can be customized.  They can be set to allow access only at certain times, or in some cases, the parameters of the filtering can be changed according to personal preferences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some “con” information was taken from: www.edweek.org, “Filtering the Internet.” by Nancy Willard. 3/27/02.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cons

 

  1. Filters sometimes block sites that speak negatively about blocking programs, or even block sites based on moral or political value judgments.

 

  1. Over reliance on filters in an academic environment can cause complacence with regard to an overall Internet program.  This can lead to students not using the Internet for learning, but rather entertainment.

 

  1. There are no perfect filters.  Many times, filters will block constitutionally protected useful sexual material, such as medical information and some artwork.

 

  1. Relying heavily on filtering programs alone may place students in a position of vulnerability when they have Internet access without filters.

 

  1. Filtering bestows decision making control to a third party, but there is no system in place to determine these companies’ accountability.