Stacy Ukishima – Pornography Elective

June 26, 2003

Pornography Sites: I did not click on the links to the pornography sites, as I was afraid to further antagonize my already cranky computer! However, I have seen my share of sites working at the library and, surprisingly, I recently discovered one while searching for clipart for that elective (you can imagine the animation)!

Letter to Students: While I was volunteering at the Linganore High School media center, Marcia Thompson, the media specialist, briefly described her policy on using the Internet. My letter to students is based on the simple instructions that she gave to her students.

Dear Students,

While using the Internet in the Media Center you may inadvertently come across a pornography site. Sometimes they just pop up on your screen even if you did not click on a web address, and if you try to get off the site, oftentimes more will pop up. We know that this occasionally happens, and you will not get into trouble if you follow the procedure below:

1. Immediately turn off your monitor. Do not call your friends over to see what popped up on your screen, do not click on other links to try to get yourself off the site, do not shut down the computer itself – SIMPLY SHUT OFF THE MONITOR!

2. Raise your hand and call for me. DO NOT shout, “I found a porn site – come help me!” This cry will only attract other students and will cause me to show up at your workstation very cranky!

3. I will take care of either getting out of the site or shutting down the computer and setting you back up on the Internet. I will also check the history of where you have been “surfing” so I strongly suggest that you DO NOT explore these sites intentionally!

Anyone caught looking at pornographic sites intentionally will lose their computer privileges for the rest of the school year – NO EXCEPTIONS!

The Internet is a wonderful resource, so I hope that you will use it wisely. Happy surfing!