Barry Waerham

WMC521 Spring 2002

Well designed “directed activities” offer a good way for students to be protected from inappropriate materials on the internet.

Due to the dynamic nature of the Web in specific and the Internet in general, it is impossible for schools to filter all inappropriate materials.

Educators and parents should strive to help students “gain the knowledge, decision-making skills, and motivation to make safe and responsible choices when they are using the Internet. nwillard@oregon.uoregon.edu

According to the ALA “the use of filtering software by libraries to block access to constitutionally protected speech violates the Library Bill of Rights,” and that filtering is “unconstitutional in both the context of the public library and the school library.”

In a recent Consumer Report article it was found that all tested software programs failed to block some objectionable content, however, did block many Web sites that contained legitimate educational materials

Parenting skills that apply to "real world" situations also apply while online.

Filtering on the Internet can dramatically decrease the possibility of a student accessing inappropriate materials.

Filtering offers a way to automate the enforcement of the Internet restrictions and policies of your organization.

In situations were staff shortages do not allow proper, and regular, supervision of student Internet use, filtering is a must.

Filtering can be effective without being restrictive if one uses a software package that is not “keyword” oriented, i.e. X-Stop or Websense.

There are some filtering systems that surely no one can argue against. For example: The Internet Content Rating Association has a free software package that allows a system to block those sites that have rated themselves inappropriate for children.

Filtering Web Content in the schools and Libraries