IP: FILTERING THE INTERNET

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

[ I was on a WNYC radio  call in today with the staffer from John McCain Commerce committee. He , when questioned by a 
caller on how schools would find the money for the staff to maintain the filters etc said well -- the E Rate would 
cover that. My understanding is that is NOT what my phone bill is paying for and I said so. He just switched back to 
the "protecting our children from child molesters" story that seems to be the drill.  It was a noisy show djf}


A study by the Denver-based education market research company Quality
Education Data found that 39% of primary and secondary schools that make the
Internet available to students use filtering software, but that 80% have
"acceptable use policies" in place.  A company executive explains:  "If
there's an acceptable use policy, some schools feel that is enough.  Another
reason may be that they don't have the money for the software yet or the
software might be incompatible with their networks.  And the software still
hasn't been perfected."  Many schools and library administrators are
critical of new legislation proposed in the U.S. Senate by John McCain
(R-Ariz.) and Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) to require filters to screen out
pornography at all schools and libraries that accept new federal "E-Rate"
subsidies for Internet access.  (New York Times Cybertimes 28 Jul 98)