Linda Kilcoyne SLM 521 Summer 02 Elective

Pros

Cons

1. Filtering can help block porn sites that try to attract children
through "bait" words like toys and teens.

2. Filtering helps reduce children's access to offensive and dangerous sites.

3. Filtering programs can block sites that contain objectionable words or themes.

4. Filtering can aid teachers trying to monitor a large number of computer users.

5. Some filtering programs can block out unwanted email, advertisements, and access to email itself.

1. Filtering can give a false sense of security; some material still gets through.

2. Many filtering programs use keywords to block material resulting in "good" sites being blocked.

3. Most filtering software does not provide a list of the sites it filters; users must use trial and error to find out.

4. Some sites are blocked for political reasons and users wouldn't know this.

5. Children does not teach children how to be responsible users of Internet.

Filtering may be one way to help protect children (and adults) from objectionable material on the Internet, but filtering cannot replace adult supervision and control of children's usage.