Filters Suffer Another Blow

In another challenge to Internet filters, a new study claims that technology wrongly blocks Web sites that meet many state educational standards in California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. The report, released by the civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), examined N2H2's Bess and SurfControl, two of the most popular Internet-blocking software products.

In its review of nearly one million Web pages, researchers found that such terms as "genocide," "perjury," "personal care," and "comedy" were routinely blocked.

It's easy to see how some sites used in classroom assignments could be mistakenly blocked: for example, 36 percent of the pages dealing with the Ku Klux Klan were filtered. But the technology also blocked many innocuous sites, such as 46 percent of those that contained the term "pogo-stick." EFF advocates that schools and libraries use clear policies outlining proper Internet use rather than installing filters.

"Even with filtering software, there is no way to ensure that children will not be exposed to some inappropriate materials," says an EFF spokesperson.

Although the Children's Internet Protection Act, which required mandatory Internet filters on library and school computers, no longer applies to libraries, schools must still comply.