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What's Being Blocked?
by Jon Platner, 03.05.03
It can be a real cyber-jungle out there — and that's the rationale behind Internet filtering, a popular tool used by libraries and schools to keep young people from accessing inappropriate material on the Web. But what exactly defines a Web page as inappropriate?
Although these filters have been found to be effective in blocking Internet porn sites, a new study suggests that they can also restrict access to critical sexual health information through what's called "overblocking."
How Filters Work
Internet filtering works in a two-level process:
- First, a filtering program rates Web sites for their content. Based on these ratings, pages are placed into certain categories. The categories can be as simple as "allowed" and "not allowed," or they can be more specific, like "contains profanity."
- Each time you request a page, the filtering software checks the page for its rating. If the rating signals that a page is "objectionable," access is denied and the Web browser does not display it.
Ratings can be based on careful evaluations of a page's content, or they can be based simply on keywords that appear in a page's text. Most filters give libraries and schools the option of setting a restriction level — typically, "least," "intermediate," and "most" restrictive — and what gets filtered varies depending on what level the software is set at.
The Study
The new study on Web filters, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Its findings confirm that overblocking is a big problem:
- On average, at the least restrictive level, filters incorrectly blocked less than two percent of health sites. But when set at the most restrictive level that number jumped to 24 percent.
- Sexual health sites that discuss issues like condoms and safer sex were blocked at an even higher rate — from nine percent at the least restrictive setting to as much as 50 percent at the most restrictive.
- In contrast, the amount of pornographic sites being blocked rose only slightly — by just three percent — from the least to the most restrictive setting.
So while increasing the restriction on these filters blocks out just a little more porn, it knocks out a lot more important sexual health information.
I Want My teenwire.com!
What exactly are you missing if you're on one of those "most restricted" computers? The site you're visiting right now, for starters! teenwire.com was blocked at the most restrictive setting in four of the six filtering programs studied. Planned Parenthood's Web site was blocked in five.
So should you worry about what you're missing on the Web in your school or library? Hard to tell — if your school sets its filters at the least restrictive level, then chances are you're still getting access to important sexual health information on the Web. But if filters are set at a higher restriction, it's very possible that sites like teenwire are being blocked.
Unfortunately, the trend doesn't seem to be in favor of lower restriction settings. Calls to 20 school districts and libraries around the country showed that the settings used vary widely, and only one school reported that it sets its filters at the least restrictive level.
Want to learn more? Check out the full study on the Kaiser Family Foundation's Web site. |
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