History

In 1969, the United States government created a way for individuals to communicate with each other across long distances through the use of high speed telephone lines. The ARPANET, as it was called, enabled military, defense contractors, and universities to communicate with each other for the purposes of defense related research. Although ARPANET no longer exists, today's Internet evolved from the technology developed during this early undertaking. Another key element in the timeline was the creation of the graphical World Wide Web. The Web in its first rendition was text based and difficult to navigate using a program called Lynx. Forays into creating a program that could show graphics and text resulted in the development of the first user friendly Web Browser called Netscape. It hit the streets in November 1994. It was free and it loaded graphics simultaneously rather than one at a time. Beginning in early 1995, the Web began to grow exponentially not only as an educational resource, but as a commercial enterprise. Now, everywhere in society from TV adds to printed materials you encounter dot com addresses. The Web for education has become a giant encyclopedia of sorts with no "real" index. Search engines designed to find information can be frustrating and daunting at times or point students to unsuspecting danger zones. This brings us to the heart of the matter should schools filter or not filter Internet content?

Background

In recent years the government has passed three bills 1) Communications Decency Act (CDA), 2) Children's Online Protection Act (COPA), and 3) Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to require content filtering in schools and libraries. The CDA was deemed unconstitutional on June 26, 1997 by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision. On June 23, 2000 the Third Court of Appeals struck down COPA as unconstitutional. The Child Internet Protection Act goes into law April 21, 2001 and ties Erate to content filtering. In order to obtain federal dollars from the Erate fund, schools and public libraries will be required to have content filtering. However, the ALCU and the American Library Association (ALA) have filed suit to overturn that law.

Assignment:

Look at the pros and cons of content filtering by going to these Web sites or others that you find. Then, write a position paper taking a side on the issue using the format below. It should be no longer than 2 pages double spaced. Post your paper to the Log Entries and comment on at least one other person's paper.

Viewpoints - What are the various views that support a pro or con on the issue?
Assumptions - What basic assumptions can be made about the issue? Why would you want to filter? or Why not?
Arguments - What information would persuade me to share your view?
Validity of Arguments - Are there any statistics or other facts to back up your arguments?
Conclusions - What conclusions can you draw from your research and writing on the issue.

ACLU and CyberLiberties
ALA Filters and Filtering
American Decency Organization
American Family Association
National Coalition for the Protection of Families