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Legal Action Against Censorware?
spoonboy42 asks: "I am a student in a school district that uses N2H2's Bess censorware. We've had to live with it for several years now, and it routinely overblocks sites of real educational merit, while pornography slips on through. Now, it has been revealed that data as to kids' surfing habits is being sold to advertisers. I believe this crosses a line, and I think most of my fellow students will agree. My question is, what legal options do a bunch of minors with very little money have against a corporation like N2H2? Should we try to go through our school board to get the software out of the district (our goal), or should we attempt to take Bess to court?" Sounds kind of shady...would a class-action suit be appropriate for situations like this? Regardles of the legal options that are available, I hope spoonboy will keep us apraised of his situation as things progress. I'm sure other opponents of censorware will be interested in how things turn out as this is a clear illustration of how censorware technology can be misused.
It already exists, it's called SquidGuard, and it runs as a redirector on Squid. We use it mostly for logging, and locking down of systems during "non internet use" lab time. We have had issues with 3rd graders going to hard porn sites (one school we installed a linux based lab for), and with 5th graders at another school going to inaproprate sites. The school with the 5th graders was already going through the district's websense proxy. We now have squidguard in front of websense, for logging purposes. Yes, I know I am posting as an AC... If you want to contact me, my name is Harry McGregor, and our website is The Open Source Education Foundation My email address is on the site.
Are arabic numerals essential for kids to learn to add and subtract? No. You could use Roman Numerals. Are pen and paper necessary to learn math? No, you could use an abacus.
Is a book essential for kids to learn how to read? No. You could get your freind to describe the shape of each letter to you.
Are electronic parts necessary to learn electronics? No, you could learn by just reading schematics (which you would read using the "shape method" I described earlier, and would do the complex math using the "abacus method").
>Online encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and even your mother's homework assignments are areas that would be good to have access to in a school.
Pfft. What a waste. If I want to use an encyclopedia I'll just ask dad what he thinks. If I want to know what homework is due I'll walk the 5 miles to the teacher's house. And a dictionary? Ho nedz dat? Eef yu uze ur mynd u kan steel undarstend mi.
And giving kids access to lower education is a mistake too. Who knows, they might learn enough to suggest we bring these new fangled adding machines into those "upper class only" universities.
Since I'm an AC posting late, I'm sure this will be read by very few, but I felt something needed to be said in response.
Do schools and libraries actually need Internet access in the first place?
No, they don't need Internet access. In fact, we don't need schools and libraries, but I think we both agree that they're Good Things to have around. Despite the sheer volume of crap on the Internet, it holds a great wealth of information for those with the skills to find and evaluate it. Schools and libraries exist for the advancement of knowledge; having Internet access is in line with that goal.
If they do, do they need unlimited access?
The question is not whether they need unlimited access, but whether it is desirable for them to have it. I don't believe many people would argue for the need to view goatse.cx at a public library, but the current filtering technology is inadequate. What's more, the blocked lists in current packages are assembled based on moral and political standards arbitrarily set by the companies that produce them. Unfortunately, it is difficult or impossible for communities to change these standards to fit their own.
If a community wants to require filtering software, fine; the standards of the community are best represented in the local government. Regional and national governments have no place to mandate that a community conform to standards set by N2H2 or Solid Oak.
How is installing censorware any different than just not buying a book?
When a library decides what books to purchase, the librarians have to make value judgements because they operate with limited resources. If a library chooses not to purchase a certain book and you request it, they will likely help you locate it at another library. In contrast, filtering Internet access requires the library to take an active step to restrict access to information, and as I mentioned above, the restrictions are set by the standards of a corporation, not the community. I have a lot more faith in my public library's head librarian than in the staff of Solid Oak. A librarian makes a living providing information to the public and is responsible to the citizens of his or her community. In my experience, librarians as a group are some of the most vocal opponents of censorship.
Imagine for a minute that we have a public library that doesn't have to contend with constraints such as funding or space. Hundreds of millions of patrons have donated all kinds of fiction and nonfiction books. However, some of these don't really serve any academic purpose, and we must Think of the Children, so we hire a company to go through the stacks and pull any book that they deem objectionable. These books are then locked away from the general public. They get some of the smut, but they miss a lot of it, and other books are curiously locked away. Mein Kampf is yanked; it's hate speech. Books dealing with gay and lesbian rights are branded "obscene", as are books on sexually transmitted diseases. Any book mentioning US imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II conveniently disappears. Not only is Farenheit 451 removed, the company we hired threatens the publisher with lawsuits. When a local woman complains, the company launches a barrage of 500 eggs at her house.
Let's face it: Internet access is not a necessary element of a student's first 12 years of education. Even it's value for the freshman and sophomore years of college is dubious at best.
An interesting point. Formal education isn't a necessary element of human life, but in more developed countries, one is at a decided disadvantage without a college education. What's so special about the Internet that it should be shunned as a resource? Kids need to learn how to make effective use of the tools at their disposal, and today the Internet is one of those tools.
On another note, it's not just the students who are using the Internet in education. Online classes are becoming more and more commonplace, and even in high schools many teachers will set up web pages with resources for their classes.
At my engineering school, the same test administered by the same professors for the last 50 years has lower scores today than in the 1950's, when Internet access, calculators and personal computers were unheard of. For all our clever technology, when it comes to our intellectual aptitude we're stupider than our grandparents.
There's more to intellect than memorization and regurgitation of facts, which used to be the prominent style of education in the US. Today, the focus is more on teaching kids techniques for gathering and applying knowledge. Unfortunately, results are no longer as important, so standards have become lax; we do need to strike a balance. However, I don't subscribe to your narrow definition of aptitude. Life is much different now than it was in the 1950s; a different lifestyle requires a slightly different set of skills. Can you sew your own clothes? Grow all your own food? Make your own soap?If anything, censorship in schools needs to go further. Instead of blocking certain sites and locations, censorware should only allow certain sites and locations.
This is patently ludicrous. While limiting access to "approved" sites would certainly prevent kids from visiting mtv.com during study hall, it severely limits the usefulness of the Internet. It's most effective at finding updated and/or obscure information. In college, I wrote a paper on urban sprawl; as a reference, I used discussion from the archives of a mailing list for city planners. Nobody would have thought to add such a resource to the "approved" list.
I really don't feel as strongly on this point, however; I really don't mind the idea of limiting access in grade schools so long as public colleges and public libraries continue to provide unfiltered access.
But with regard to Bess, if you think you can form a lawsuit because a company whose software you used compiled statistics on your usage patterns, you need to have another think. Would you also want to sue Mobil for compiling information on its SpeedPass users? Or Ford, for tracking information on people who purchase its cars? Do you seriously think that you can launch a lawsuit against Home Depot for counting how many people purchased vinyl siding? Of course not. And so you can't with N2H2, either.
Your analogy has a gaping flaw: I choose whether or not I use a Mobil SpeedPass, drive a Ford product, or purchase vinyl siding for my home at Home Depot. When my child is of school age, he will not get to choose what software is installed on the computers--and he will be required to use those computers on occasion. Although Slashdotters have a tendency to object to any sort of data sales, I think most of the furor about the BESS situation is due to the fact that N2H2 is using children for profit. N2H2 started doing this without informing the districts or the children. Furthermore, US law prohibits gathering data on children under 13, and N2H2 is doing exactly that. Finally, one of their customers is the US Dept. of Defense; I don't believe I'm alone in my concern about why they're interested in aggregate surfing habits of minors.
on what kind of computing policy your school has, if any. If they don't have one, you may be set -- document this fact in case they quickly draw one up to cover their ass.
You may also consider a lawsuit against the school district to drive the point home.
Corruption begins with not caring. The people that corruption affects don't care enough to make a big deal out of it, so the corruption goes on to a point that the people affected have no choice but to do something about it.
Let your parents and the school board know. Give concrete examples of sites you can get to that shouldn't be allowed and sites you can't get to that have merit. After Bess it explain these problems and give a solution with a time frame and hold them to that time frame. Don't let them give you something that is open ended.
As far as the viewing habits, find out exactly what they are selling. If all they are selling is a list of visited URLs with no way to tie that back to a person, you might not have much luck getting it undone.
Good luck, make it a big deal and be specific.
http://lm.lcs.mit.edu/
--
You make a very good point. Schools especially should be using a default deny policy and only open up sites that kids need to reach to do their research. Maybe subscribe to some kind of service that acts as a front page for k-12 research that keeps them from getting at the Internet-at-large. The last thing I want my local tax dollars going to is providing Internet access so a bunch of high schoolers can jerk off in the library. Go home and do that on your DSL.
Well, AFAIK you can get internet access for free now. Or if you can't, most ISPs have plans for some $5/month access. Average kid spends more on chewing gum, I guess.
-- Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
Why do you care so much about what internet access you have at school? Get yourself decent unrestricted internet access at home and say the school censors to kiss your ass.
-- Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
The only problem with telnetting home is that 99% of the time, n2h2 is set up (as it is at my school) to have NO outside routes going out. Instead the school is run on a (BLECH!) NT lan, where there is a machine named proxy that you connect to for web. I have thought up of several ways around it, but I'm too lazy to code them. Right now, I have whiplash set up on my webserver so I can go on IRC from school. (http://mooseb0y.net/whiplash/)
better yet, if bandwidth is there, VNC into your box at home!!!
-Andy
Wait a minute, what about if I buy a copy of windows without a machine? Sure, it probably went through a wholesaler and a store, but so do most other products. Just because I bought an Oster blender at K-mart does that mean I can't sue Oster if it blows up the first time I use it? And if I lease a Ford, and it has a defect that causes it to fall apart at 65mph and kills my kid as he falls out of the back seat, does that mean I can't sue ford, because I don't own it?
IANAL either, but this doesn't seem to hold water.
If either the ACLU or the EFF wants to take up your case, let me know... I'll give an increased donation to either organization for assisting in a case like this one.
-- Michael Chermside
I'm afraid you've lost track of society around you many years ago.
In the early seventies pocket calculators were banned at our technical college (in puritan Holland) "because they made you dumb".
A few years later I started working for a large international company, I was the only one never having used a calculator, not nice.
Further I object as well to the second half of your blanked statement "-and Study"; part of growing up into a whole human is testing a lot of things in the world around you and the networking experience of the internet is clearly a part of it.
We all know the arche typical Nerd that has only one interrest in life, it's the kind of kid that as an exception is not bad but you don't want a society entirely made up of.
I'm afraid "troll" is a kind moderation.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Legal action against the censorwaremakers is by far the best option to get them to clean up their acts. All other industries are petrified about legal actions and will bend over backwards to avoid it. Why shouldn't we put our overly-litigious society to work for us for a change?
If just one huge class-action lawsuit succeeded with large punitive damages, all the censorware companies would think three times about their cavalier policies in the future. Let's make them as terrified of being sued as every other company is. IANAL, but IMO there is plenty of damage done by these people which could be proven, with the plaintiff either being someone who is denied access to information, or an onrganizatin whose site is being blocked.
that blocks the ads from Bess. Presuumably this would make surf-habit detection a bit more difficult (no using DoubleClick cookies). And with a few more lines it could send out spurious requests to random sites and make their logfiles useless. I did set the script up on the servers at Garfield High in Seattle, but no one uses it because it is verrryyyy slow to filter lots of HTTP traffic on our already overworked server.
Oh well, there's no such thing as a technological fix for a social problem.
I wouldn't call it a random observation or observation OF A PROBLEM.
:) I must say I thought the majority of the WWW was rather pointless home pages that people had put up for no apparent reason but I'm sure your information is better than mine. I can't say I see the relevance though.
:) That doesn't relate to anything in your original post though.
In the post I was responding to you said "Internet usage profiling is nothing new. It's quite common nowadays." As far as I can see you were either saying this to refute that there was a problem (i.e. since it happens a lot it isn't a problem, which as I said seems backwards, if it is a problem then it happening a lot does not improve things and if it isn't a problem then how much it happens is simply irrelevant) or you were just saying it for no reason whatsoever, i.e. a random observation. If there's some point behind the comment then what is it?
Cutting right to the chase: What the fuck kind of fascist purpose do you think the data collection is being used for?
I've no idea... I really doubt that fascists are involved though. I think you're confused.
It is being used for consumer research, for crying outloud! What else would it be used for when the majority of the WWW is focused on commerce nowadays?
Thanks for the info
If you see something horribly WRONG with that, you're nitpicking
I suspect "nitpicking" is a word you only recently encountered and wanted to try out since I can't see why regarding anything as being wrong would be an example of nitpicking. If you really think I'm nitpicking then please elaborate.
and yet again, are looking for another reason to get on a soapbox and complain about some idiotically perceived injustice.
Ah, "yet again". I make a habit of that do I?
The idea of taking action with a school over the whole thing is absurd. Furthermore, put aside your childish American I'm-suing-you bullshit mentality (which is what your focus on the whole "legal liability" translates into) for a second
I think you must be confusing me with someone who has visited America at some point? Or, don't tell me, exposure to American influences over the internet and other media has "warped my fragile mind"? In any event, how does it become MY focus on legal liability? You asserted that somebody (I still don't know who) was "covered" by the contract between the school and the provider. The only thing I can think a contract could cover you against is legal action. If you were thinking of something else then please do explain.
that into consideration it's nice the school is providing connection to something as dynamically moving as the Internet in the first place -- mabye students should appreciate that for face value.
You see, you can make a reasonable point when you try
I don't apply that attitude to everything in life, but generally speaking you should try to accept what is unalterable. Building a strong dislike toward something does not always equal taking action when taking action is unrealistic.
All in all, you made a rather incoherent post and when questioned on the detals you have mostly responded abusively. Not everyone you encounter will agree with you or understand you for that matter. Since that's unalterable I suggest you take your own advice and try to learnt to accept it.
Internet usage profiling is nothing new. It's quite common nowadays.
I'm a little confused where you're coming from with that comment. Are you suggesting that the more common something becomes the less of a problem it is (which sounds completely backwards) or was that just a sort of random observation?
Not to sound hostile, but this really sounds very petty. Mainly because I would doubt you are really losing any privacy. A distinct username isn't associated with any of the data, let alone personal information. While you can argue it's the principle of the thing, it still doesn't seem like that big of an issue.
Okay... put it this way: lots of people intensely dislike spiders. If you put them near spiders they become agitated and try to get away. Lots of people have a strong dislike for having data gathered about them. If you start watching them, analysing their behaviour, gathering statistics they become agitated and try to stop you. You may not be bothered by either spiders or by having data gathered about you (if not then this is most probably more of a threshold thing; you get bothered at a different point rather than not being bothered at all) but you should be able to see that neither group is being "petty". They are being subjected to something they dislike, they object and try to stop it. You can argue that they will always be subject to such data collection just as you can argue that there will always be more spiders, that doesn't make mean they're petty.
In any event, the usage contract the school signed with the proxy provider probably has them covered.
Who, the school or the provider? I'm not sure what you're getting at here, if the school is vulnerable to action by the individual then a contract they sigend with a third party (the provider) is irrelevant. If the provider is vulnerable to action by the individual then a contract they signed with a third party (the school) is irrelevant. If neither is vulnerable to action by the individual then any contract they make between them is irrelevant. Or you mean the school can't take action against the provider because the contract lets them collect the data? That may be true but the school could choose not to renew the contract on those terms in future.
It's a waste of energy to dislike something intensely that can't go anywhere.
An extremely defeatist attitude. It'd be pretty depressing if even at school age people had already given up believing they could make an impact on the world.
ummm... no... they only lose the right to speech which is contrary to an educational environment. you don't have the right to spontaneously organize a protest in the middle of class as its disruptive to the educational environment. but you do have the right to wear a shirt protesting something or another.(the supreme court case you want is Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 1969. "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech . . . at the schoolhouse gates.")
and the press? the last i checked high school press was limited by the fact that the school usually acts as publisher, meaning they pay for the production, printing, and distro of the press. if you want to form an alternative press at your own expense, the school cannot impose unreasonable limitations on its distrobution on school grounds. (college press, i know for a fact, has practically no differentiation with commercial press as far as press rights go.)
the ACLU is the preeminent source for student's rights info. They've got a whole section on student's rights on their web site. Good stuff.----
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
I would be interested in knowing if anyone has looked at this from the perspective of voluntary informed consent. To do any research in a school (research directed at furthering good education, not marketing) it is extremely difficult for an outside agency (such as a university researcher) to get clearance from the board of education to come in and collect data, and parents are quite skeptical. Here, for example, are Indiana's standards
there is a case that N2H2 would need consent clearance:
[begin quote http://www.indiana.edu/~resrisk/informed.html]
STUDENTS IN INDIANA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The State of Indiana has placed certain restrictions on research conducted in the public schools. The restrictions apply to personal analyses, evaluations, programs, or surveys that: are not directly related to academic instruction; and that reveal or attempt to affect the student's attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings concerning:
[end quote]
The N2H2 data collection meets both points. The standards that I apply to trying to perform quantitative research in the field of education are a lot more strict than those applied by marketing types, but as far as I know the stricter standards are the ones typically applied to the conduct of our school systems at least until some corporation looks like they are going to throw a buck or two the school's way. The important thing is that you remember that the students are generating the data *as individuals*, regardless of how the data is summarized and reported. Aggregate reporting by N2H2 is still performed through individual participation in the activities that generate the data, and the use of human subjects in research always requires the use of informed consent.
http://silentsurf.com/ can do that.
Female Prison Rape in NY
Problem with that analogy:
Students have a passive roll in this problem.
Ticket buyers are active participants in a process.
Its not like the students said "we want to be censored". The state has decided this for them.
Therefore, regardless of who "purchased" the software, the students will still have rights to protection. I'd be interested to learn if the state was granted a discount (kickbacks?) and knew that info was being sold off.
----- LoboSoft specializes in Digital Language Lab
What's funnier is that if you shape your query right(or wrong depending on the intent) you actually can find sites that you can't go to. Bess can't go to some places that Searchopolis finds.
I am a former student of West Ottawa High School
http://www.westottawa.k12.mi.us Holland, MI (yes this was the same city where the whole shit about censorware at the library happened, xref an old slashdot censorship story. If I find it or somebody remembers it, please post the URL of the archive)
In my junior year, they used some IBM shit, netvista I think it was. getting to March or so, they started the Bess, but didn't phase netvista out until late May. Blocked a lot of good stuff, very restrictive, though not much smut could get through (don't remember it being possible to get any, YMMV)
What some of us found out (in my senior year) was that we could bypass the filter altogether by telling Netscape to use the SOCKS proxy (port 1080) from the old netvista proxy. That worked for a while, until we were made, and that port was closed.
I didn't ever go looking for porn at school(instead I used it to do legitimate things that BESS didn't allow), though I know that some students did, using this "backdoor." They were part of what ruined it. Still, I have to believe that even if nobody had abused it (like that'll ever happen. Too many high schoolers are too immature) it still would have been closed b/c the school wanted complete control over what we could and couldn't do.
What really frustrated us was that I and a few of my friends were in a web design class, and often due to the crappy quality of the proxy, often we couldn't even upload our own webpages. not to mention all the wrangling over which services were allowed. I could keep going, b/c this really steamed me, but I probably shouldn't.
One last note on the restrictiveness of WOHS. In my senior year (officially in order to improve our safety, xref Columbine and related [including incidences of adults] as well as to enforce the closed campus policy [except for seniors @ lunch and coop programs]) cattle gates were put up at the parking lot entrances, most doors were locked, and all teachers were required to use security passes like many corporations and hospitals. The running joke was that we were all at West Ottawa Penitentiary. And I can't forget the "We are not cows" gag. Even worse was the fact that our security officer completed his police training, and now carried a gun. If we hadn't been afraid of him before, now we had more reason (he was a good guy, but I still don't like cops, or anyone who I must deal with who carries a gun).
Some of my friends are still students, and I don't envy them at all. Security is tougher this year than last year. I couldn't even get in to talk to a student that I was trying to interview for a paper for my ENG 150 class at GVSU.edu
In the state of Michigan there is a law that says even if you're 18, you are considered a minor if you're still in HS (not sure how this applies to the occasional 20 something [not to sound racist, but you used to be able to find laotians and such who were in their 20's at public HS] Maybe this doesn't happen anymore due to community ed).
So 18 or not, I still had no rights at school. THAT SUCKS!!!! I could be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but still treated like a child. Nothing like having all the responsibilities and none of the privileges.
I'm not in HS anymore, and am a freshman in college, but I still sympathise with HS students in such predicaments. I could tell of all my experiences in MS/HS, including the false accusations, the invalid/probable illegal suspensions, the tramplings of my rights, and the whole bit, but it would take way too long.
I UNDERSTAND YOU, I SYMPATHISE WITH YOU, I _REALLY DO_ FEEL YOUR PAIN. But I still know that when it comes to a student vs administration, admin almost always wins, b/c they're the adults, and you the ignorant kid.
I didn't tell my parents until it had been happening for 2 years. I regret this greatly, it cost me a lot.
I really need to shut up now. It hurts too much, and I am getting angry over things that are in my past and I can't do anything about. But never think that you're the only one. YOU'RE NOT!!! But maybe you can do something about it, unlike I who did not, b/c I didn't believe I could. I was wrong, but by the time I knew that, it was too late, the damage was done.
I agree that you are mostly right, but I must also ref a post I made above.
In Michigan there is a law that basically says that even if you're 18, you can be treated as a minor if You're a student in/at school.
I realise some of you are high school kids, but let's look at things from a nother point of view. Regaurdless if the software works or not, the school HAS TO MAKE AN EFFORT TO CONTROL WHAT YOU VIEW. You don't have any rights when it comes to using their equipment. They have to control what you view to prevent lawsuit because so and so saw this on a computer at school. They have to make that effort. If you remove the software, then they will more than likely ahave to have teachers supervise what you do on those computers.
Like it or not, you will just have to deal with it. The computer is only one tool to use to do research. Their are these things called books. There are gouping of books call Encyclopedia, and their are news papers and magazines for recent events. Most public libraries subscribe various publications.
I realise a lot of you don't like censorship, but in todays society it required because anybody can sue anybody of the stupidest things. Until society as a whole changes, we will have censorship. Complain all you want, but it will not do any good in this case. You will always have some form of censorship in schools--especially school computers.
At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
-jerdenn
SmartFilter's Greatest Evils - censorware and privacy/anonymity
Latest Censorware Essay:
What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)
I unfortunately was the victim of a very similar circumstance. I recently graduated from high school and my district as well used the oh so wonderfull Bess filtering software. The major problem I feel you're going to run up against is the CIPA and the de-facto mandating of censorware in order to recieve E-rate federal funding. It's unlikely that you'll be able to convince the district to eliminate the filtering software entirely, but you might be able to suggest alternative, less offensive forms of censorware. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. ps - Continue the good fight :)
Hmm.. interesting idea, but I somehow doubt the content this person is after is accessible through lynx. Hmmm.. but given that jpg => text image translator I saw recently, let's see one of those "porn image recognition" software packages detect that!
---
Josh Woodward
Josh Woodward
A) Be good friends with teachers who are just as ticked at Bess as you are. They will give those they trust their override passwords. This requires that you also don't go using that password to download smut. Just good things, like the old everything.blockstackers.com, which was blocked by bess, but not [E2], funny.
B) Have SSH access to a computer off campus, and alot of patience. Sometimes your ports are blocked off for common ones like 20-23, 80, 6665-7000, etc. But with proper configuration, and routeable IP, you can normally get "off the network" via SSH. Next task is to configure Port Forwarding, something which comes standard with SSHd, ssh, and SecureCRT. Simply add a port forward to port 80 of wherever you want to connect, and translate that to a local port (like 81), making sure not to overlap local ports. Now, configure your browser to ignore the proxy for hosts beginning in 127.0.0.1, then connect to 127.0.0.1:81. Why not use localhost? because `hosts' can be configured to redirect that elsewhere, and thats a bad thing. Pitfall? if the people use a seperate server for images and such, you're SOL, because you can't redirect where the refs inside the web pages go, and only relative links work.
At least this way what is blocked and what is not blocked will be publicly known and the community of users can control it. For those with some initiative, there is probably some grant money to do this... espececially from the political campaigns (who routinely have their sites blocked). Thoughts?
A significant portion of your senior class are 18, voters, have in fact reached their majority, and can sue in their own right.
These are voters. Get them registered. Talk to the League of Women voters about a voter registration.
Now if you can't get at the League of Women Voters on the net, call them on the phone.
Talk to your parents, teachers, librarians too.
Ed Craig "Who cares what you think?" George W. Bush, 4th of July 2001
If we're going to be forced to use censorware, I suggest holding the companies accountable for doing its job. For each pr0n site it lets in, fine them $20 for the corruption of a minor. If it blocks a legitimate site, fine them $20. These companies won't fine tune their software unless their failures hit them in the pocketbook.
Looking for a computer support specialist for your small business? Check out
Would it kill you people to find a lawyer in your area and pay the small fee to get him to tell you whether or not you have a case? It might be much more relevant, plus you'd have an immediate two way feedback, instead of having to dig through -1 to see whose good advice got through and whose got modded down. Plus, they'd know more about any local laws which might apply. You never know.
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
most of your "rights" don't mature until you're 18
But if even 10% of the high school seniors in the district sign the petition, that's a lot of names.
you'll get the equivalent of "those kids are so cute"
Human children are not cute. Eloi children (depicted in Precious Moments drawings and figurines) are.
All your hallucinogen are belong to us.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I host a very interesting paper on BESS. It is available at http://www.ispep.cx/files/ccsd/bess/and it is cut / pasted below in text form.
... that is not pornographic."
-----------
BESS filter
at the Clark County School District (CCSD) in Las Vegas, NV.
Ben Efros (Ben@Efros.com)
2:30AM February 1, 2001. Last updated 12:45AM Feb 17, 2001.
What is BESS?
Is BESS really doing any good?
Wrongfully blocked topics at CCSD
Should Artistic nudity be blocked?
My Efforts to Fix the Problem
CCSD Blocked Categories List
Advertisers get Privileges
Blocked Sites
What Parents need to know
Bypassing BESS
More Information
What is BESS?
The BESS filter at the Clark County School District is used to filter Internet usage for the entire district, limiting pornographic content, controversial subjects, information on drugs, and much more. Unfortunately the BESS filter blocks an incredible amount of educational and useful content also, including controversial subjects, information on drugs, and information on illegal acts, such as rape and even how to defend yourself.
If a student needs to write a paper on tobacco marketing or common ways tobacco is used in society, [s]he cannot do it whil at school for the simple reason that any site discussing tobacco's "recreational use" or "advertising tobacco" is blocked by BESS. The same goes for research on a number of other subjects.
Is BESS really doing any good?
Many parents feel that Internet filtering by programs such as BESS really does work effectively. But, by blocking information from reaching students by means of an automated filter actually causes more harm than good. Teachers have forgotten their duty to supervise students while they use the Internet. Many students often try to "press the limits" of the filter and try to gain access to topics that are normally filtered, such as pornography. One student who attends a school district other than CCSD has told me that "students now go into the library and try to access pornographic sites seeing how many are not blocked. The librarians have relaxed a bit now and don't actively supervise students, since they believe the filter stops access to such sites. Today, more students access pornographic sites from school than before BESS was installed, just because they want to prove that they can. It is funny how before we had BESS, nobody ever dared to go to a pornographic site."
The same thing happens here in Clark County. Not only do students try to access pornographic and adult content knowing that it is against the "Acceptable Use Policy" (AUP), but they also break that same AUP by accessing content such as jokes, online video games, online clothing stores, and more. One incident regarding the blocked category of Lingerie now comes to mind... Just this past week I was in class and two girls who were looking at clothing online which was not blocked by BESS, although it was definitely lingerie. They did not even know that they were accessing a site that BESS should have blocked.
An incredible number of educational sites are blocked by BESS for a number of reasons. N2H2, the creators of BESS, has publicly stated "our staff of 100+ Human Web Reviewers personally examines every site we categorize." Yet, still students can access pornographic sites through BESS and are then denied access to very educational sites. This is no surprise considering that more than 100 pages are added to the Internet every second, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. A team of 500 people reviewing websites would have trouble keeping up, even if they worked 24-hour shifts just adding sites. But the Internet is constantly changing, pages are changed all the time. With well over 15 million web pages blocked by N2H2, a staff of one hundred employees, reviewing 300 pages a day, would take more than a year to make sure their blocked sites are blocked appropriately. Can they really be reviewing each and every page? They have hired a staff of one hundred people (many who work only part time) to do the jobs that even a team of 500 people would have trouble keeping up with.
Is BESS really doing any good?
Wrongfully blocked topics in the Clark County School District:
Category Reason it should not be blocked
Weapons You cannot learn the advancements in weapon technologies over the past few thousand years without seeing diagrams of how weapons work. Weapons have been around for thousands of years, why would we only now stop the ability to learn about them?
Alcohol A student in Health class was assigned to write a paper on substances that can physically damage your body. This student cannot find out what the common alcohol-related causes of death are and from what type of drinks, because they are blocked by BESS.
Violence Are you telling me that I should not be allowed to see a person's death? Well, just last night I saw an Isreali soldier thrown out of a police station window and murdered by a mob on CBS. I've also seen a boy shot up in his own father's arms. Seeing those video clips on TV touched me, they helped me to feel sorrow and compassion. Is BESS trying to raise us students to be like machines without emotion? Sadly, you cannot form an opinion on the problems of violence without actually seeing it.
Chat What if a student wishes to discuss, in real-time, what is happening in foreign countries with the people living there? The ability to communicate with foreign students can be a very educational experience.
Free Mail By blocking access to email services, students are denied a means of communication with the rest of the world. How often do you see email blocked in business offices?
Gambling I cannot see why a computer program that emulates a slot machine is banned from my site... instead, I have to run down to the local 7-11 store and see the real-thing. Funny how the government does not ban minors from looking at slot machines in the physical world, yet it is banned in the virtual.
Profanity I was just watching PBS and heard the word "nigger." And I just read that book Grapes of Wrath and the guy said "These goddamned Okies are thieves." There are situations that profanity is used to document history and the mood of society, with all of its emotions, that people lived in at the time.
Message Boards Many message boards contain information about what problems or issues other people have faced and also responses and ideas of how to fix them. The learning benefits from message boards are incredible.
Tasteless / Gross If I am trying to learn the common ways ancient civilizations would sometimes "mutilate" their dead or learn how the ancient Egyptians would remove organs from a body before mummifying it, I cannot because BESS doesn't think my stomach can handle it. I think I can decide for myself and do not need someone else to tell me what I cannot learn about.
Murder / Suicide It is an issue many teens have thought about. Every year students in the Clark County school district commit suicide. We cannot just hide this issue by sweeping it under the carpet, students need to be able to learn about it.
School Cheating A student can learn about views which other students have on topics, such as their theories to why historical events happen. You can only gain such knowledge of what other people believe, by reading their works which may sometimes be term papers or essays
Hate / Discrimination You cannot teach students about the wrongs of discrimination without actually showing both sides. By teaching only one side of the story, students will not solidify their understanding of such issues. Discrimination and acts of hate are vital parts of history. If we cannot learn from society's mistakes in the past, how do we prevent them in the future?
Jokes Laughing is a proven way to relax a person. Relaxation at school is a proven way to learn. Learning is a proven way to get good grades. Getting good grades is a good way to secure a good job, impress parents, and satisfy the Dept. of Education.
Free Web Pages Free web hosts provide a place for information to be shared, freely, without cost to the author. There is an incredible amount of research and educational information on Geocities, Homestead, and many other free website hosts. What if an author cannot afford to buy "LearningMath.com" but still feels the information is important enough for others to read so [s]he posts it to Geocities? Is it right to deny students the ability to learn, just because the author cannot afford another way of getting their message out?
Illegal Sure, bomb making information is available on the Internet, but it isn't something that needs to be feared... instead parents should fear the idea that they have chemicals under their kitchen sinks that if consumed can kill a person and if mixed wrongly with other chemicals can kill a whole houseful of people by releasing deadly gasses. If we are to ban learning about explosives, then why don't we require that all kitchen cabinets contain locks on them to prevent unauthorized access to chemicals? Why don't we require people to be 18 years old to buy household cleaners at the local supermarket, too?
Should artistic nudity be blocked?
It has been agreed upon that blocking pornography and adult content is fine, but the question always comes up about artistic nudity. I will not try to persuade any readers of this article with my opinion... instead I would like you to form your own conclusion.
Artistic nudity is defined by N2H2, the creators of BESS, as "images of bare or visible genitalia, pubic hair, buttocks, female breasts, etc.
National Geographic routinely publishes photographs from different eras in human history and even hires photographers to seek out the way that certain people live throughout the world. Some natives in the rainforests do not wear clothing. Such photographs usually contain nudity and are then blocked. Time Magazine has also published photographs which contain female breasts and buttocks. (Although I cannot back this up, I bet that they have also published pictures containing visible genitalia and pubic hair. Email me if you know what issues contain such.) If I recall correctly, I have seen photographs of babies where their genitals are showing in magazines available at school. Open up an Encyclopedia Britannica and you will find an incredible amount of nudity while researching artwork from a few hundred years ago, nudity obviously isn't something new.
Why do schools often subscribe to such magazines? Probably because of the educational value contained within them. Why aren't such "dangerous" magazines banned from school, if nudity is so incredibly bad?
In my Pre-calculus / Trigonometry class we have a poster with a series of paintings on it. One of these paintings contains a man and woman, both fully naked!!! Funny how people in class never even pay attention to it, except as being a form of art. It isn't like us students stroll into class and just stare at the artwork all class period because it has nudity.
Should artistic nudity be blocked?
My efforts to fix the problem of filtering within the School District
After seeing that so much information valuable to my education has been blocked by BESS, I wanted to figure out how to fix the problem. I decided to start by sending the school district a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Freedom of Information Act entitles citizens of the United States to request government documents from any government agency. In this case, I requested three things from CCSD on November 10th, 2000 :
All documentation regarding the implementation of the Bess web proxy system provided to CCSD by N2H2.
All access logs that are recorded by the Bess proxy filter.
Documentation regarding the effectiveness of Bess at blocking Internet sites deemed inappropriate for minors and sites that have been mis-categorized by Bess.
[ Click here to see the letter ]
I waited one month for a response before writing another letter to check on the status of my request on December 10th, as CCSD had not replied or notified me of any delays in processing such a request. (Notification of a delay is required by the FOIA)
My follow-up letter requested the information below:
What is the status on my request? Why has CCSD not responded?
The Freedom of Information Act requires response within a twenty-day period. Why have I not been contacted by CCSD yet?
Who currently is assigned to handle my request? How may I contact that person?
Is the information I requested being destroyed in any way? This could mean data deletion, removal of tape archives, or the simple process of removing logs from the servers.
[ Click here to see the letter ]
CCSD finally responds!
A few days after the draft and mailing of my second letter, I received my first response from CCSD dated December 12th, 2000. As expected, CCSD did not work very hard to satisfy my request for information. Their their responses are below:
In response to my request for "All documentation regarding the implementation of the BESS web proxy system at CCSD by N2H2" they sent me a little marketing brochure [ front | back ] which N2H2 uses to try to sell it's service. Also they sent me a copy of the "Internet Filtering Procedures" [ page 2 | page 3 ] that provides a list of which categories are blocked by BESS. And finally, the third document they included with their mailing was a print-out of an email from Dan Wray (wray@ccsd.net) to Dr. Karlene R. Lee which was actually written by N2H2 and available online or on this website.
In response to my second question, "All access logs that are recorded by the Bess proxy filter," they asked for me to be more specific on which information from the access logs I am requesting.
In response to question three, about the effectiveness and mis-categorization of websites by BESS, it says that information on "blocking inappropriate Internet sites has been attached." The brochure and filtering categories documents satisfy the request. But, what about my question regarding sites that are mis-categorized? Well you could say that N2H2's "5 Step Review Process" never lets that happen, since they have over one hundred people working to review content and categorize it. So why do we still have so many sites being blocked that are educational!?
CCSD finally responds! (again)
I was sent via second letter, this time via certified mail, which was a response to my second letter (dated Dec 10th) around December 23rd (I can't remember the date). This response was certified to help legally cover CCSD's butt in case I chose to take legal action, because of their slow response times. They were really pushing the 20 day limit that the FOIA gives for an initial response time.
[ Click here to see the certified letter ]
In the meantime...
While I was preparing an updated FOIA request to gain access to the log files, I discovered that N2H2 has been selling those log files to companies for profit... while I can't even get my hands on them. On January 26, 2001 the Wall Street Journal broke this news [ mirror of article ] about N2H2. A discussion on Slashdot (which CCSD's BESS blocks access to) quickly erupted about the selling of such information and privacy concerns. One particular quote that hits on a few of the major points is shown below:
drDugan (jmd2120@eMail.com) wrote:
"I think this is pretty scary... just from the privacy implications alone. Lets summarize the situation:
The government requires kids to go to school.
Schools require kids to use the Internet.
Government requires special software in schools to monitor the actions of people there while online.
Sellers of the software can do whatever they want with the data, without any oversight.
The people being monitored (the school kids) have no say or recourse to affect the situation."
The bullet saying that the government requires filtering software in schools is referring to the "E-rate" program setup to give funding to help pay for Internet access in schools. Only schools under this program are required to filter.
After reading and taking part in the discussion myself, I decided to finalize writing my new FOIA request and get it into the mail as well as put this website up online.
[ Click here to see the letter ]
The idea that N2H2 is collecting information, about me, while I am at school without my consent and then turning around and selling it to third parties is quite disturbing. In addition to my privacy being violated, N2H2 is charging CCSD to use its filtering service. So N2H2 is getting paid to collect data which is then sold to marketers to make even more profit. And of course, they have a captive market since most schools want to be part of the "E-Rate" program funded by the government, which means they must have filtering of some kind installed. I wonder if CCSD knew that this information was being collected and then sold to third parties... after all they cite confidentiality as the reason which they cannot just provide me full access to the logs (see their response to my first FOIA request) yet they allow N2H2 to possess it.
Now I am waiting for a response from Dr. Karlene Lee.
CCSD Blocked Categories List
ADULT
PORN
ALCOHOL *
FREEMAIL *
GROSS *
MBB *
SCHOOLCHEAT *
WEAPONS *
PERSONALS
DISCRIM *
SEX
CHAT *
FREEPAGES * LANGUAGE *
NUDITY *
SUICIDE / MURDER *
AUCTION
SWIMSUIT
ILLEGAL *
VIOLENCE *
DRUGS *
GAMBLING *
LINGERIE
PERSONALINFO
TOBACCO *
JOKES *
* Listed above as a category which should not be filtered
Advertisers don't get filtered
BESS filter does an interesting thing that most filters do not. BESS adds a little search box and links to advertisers at the bottom of each page that is requested. These advertisements are certainly questionable considering that we the students are being forced to see them by the schools every time we have a project that requires Internet access from the school. So now the school district is forcing students to watch advertising on EVERY page they go to.
N2H2's business practices are questionable when they do not block access to the websites of sponsors and advertisers but when they do block access to similar sites. For example, I took the very first search result on google.com when searching for "penis" and compared it with the Encarta encyclopedia web page for "penis." Students must research the human body in an anatomy science course. Not surprisingly, both pages contain a diagram of the penis (or a link to it) and both describe the anatomy similarly. BESS blocks the non-advertiser's page (Anatomy of the Penis) which is quite educational, but the filter still allows you to access Encarta's page (Reproductive System). N2H2 is basically giving advertiser control over what students have access to and where they can find information by blocking sites and allowing their advertising instead.
What kind of advertising are they doing? BESS has banner advertisements for "Online Credit Reports." Funny how even with the "Personal Information" category being blocked by BESS, we can still go to their advertiser (Consumer Info) that "Collects personal information."
Blocked Sites
I will add new sites to this list after CCSD sends me a couple CDs of log files.
Textfiles.com - Contains text files collected from the 70s, 80s, and 90s which document the era of early computer networks and modem-based BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems)
@Stake - Security News Network - Reports news on computer security related events. This site does not promote crime in any way, instead it reports with a unique perspective on issues that matter to the online community, including privacy, online rights, security breeches, and more. @Stake is a professional company that conducts research on computer security and is definitely a safe site for school children even though it isn't very interesting. (Feb 5, 2001: This site may now be unblocked - N2H2 states that it never was blocked)
Devil Worship - An interesting read and definitely not harmful in anyway.
Teendate.de - A teen match-making site in German. Interestingly the English version of this site is not blocked.
Fire Damage - A very obvious educational site about four types of fire-related damage.
Virtual Prostitution Museum - Documents history of prostitution in the western United States. Does not advocate prostitution, instead it informs the reader of its history..
Classinfo - The site of a teacher at Chaparral High School in Las Vegas. Can't even access the page from at the school.
What Parents need to know
Often views as a parent regarding the Internet define what is good/bad and what is okay to access or not. But your child's views may differ from yours in many areas, including the idea of censorship itself. This is normal. As a parent, please remember that for a child to learn about the world around him/her, [s]he needs to be able to communicate with that world. Cutting off their best communications medium (the Internet) deprives the child of a potentially great education.
Freedom of expression, one of the basic rights of citizens here in the United States, is critical to the survival of this country. You may think it is okay to block websites that describe illegal acts, weapons, online chatting, etc, but there are more benefits to allowing your son/daughter to learn than to just deny access to information. When you prohibit online chatting and email, you are denying your child the right to communicate with others... it is as if you are forcing your child to go to school without being able to speak to others (or even the teacher). Online communications are quite similar to normal communications in a face to face meeting.
I know many close-minded parents are going to disagree with me about allowing students access to information which may document how illegal acts are performed. N2H2 says that learning about computer hacking and security is illegal and should be filtered. Computer security sites that discuss how crackers (commonly known as hackers) penetrate computer systems ranging from the Department of Defense to your local credit union are blocked by filters such as BESS. You may think "Great! Now my kid cannot become an evil criminal!" but it isn't that simple. These sites often discuss how to prevent such malicious actions too. I am a computer programmer and for my job I need to know how to create programs that are safe for public use and impenetrable by malicious users when in production environments. I cannot explain how useful such sites are to the development of protections, whether it be from buffer overflows, race conditions, symbolic link issues, print string vulnerabilities, or a number of other common computer security issues. (Just for the record, I am paid as a working student well over seven times what minimum wage is doing what I do, so it isn't like I do not know what I am talking about on this issue.) The importance of sites that are classified as "illegal" is more valuable than you may believe to a person's education.
Parents must realize that depriving their children of their ability to determine for them self what is appropriate can endanger a child even more than exposing a child to pornographic material. If your child cannot learn to see the line between appropriate and inappropriate while growing up in your home with your supervision, what happens when he/she moves out into the "real world" and no longer has your supervision and strict regulation of his/her life? If you son/daughter does not realize the harmful effects of drugs on their body now, what will stop them from overdosing as soon as they are exposed to it in the "real world" ? My point is that you need to guide your children in being able to make decisions for themselves, but not "protect" them from finding out truthful information about drugs or other controversial topics.
The Justice Abraham Fortas of the US Supreme Court once stated that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Your son or daughter still possesses the rights to learn what is outside of the approved curriculum of schools. Please do not limit their education and ultimately hurt their ability to survive in the open job market after their graduation from high school. Do what is truly best for your son or daughter.
Many parents think that if an Internet filter is installed, then their child will be blocked from accessing content such as pornography. Well, most likely you cannot access www.playboy.com, but that doesn't mean all sites containing nudity and pornography are blocked. Finding nudity, hardcore photographs, or adult sex stories is not difficult even with the BESS filter active. Anyone seeking such content will be able to find it from within any school using the BESS filter.
Do not rely on a filter to protect your child. BESS is not your child's babysitter! You are your child's babysitter. You are there to shield, protect, and guide your offspring in an acceptable manner, not a [capitalist] company and certainly not a computer program. The government's job is not to make sure your child grows up and learns the way you want him/her to learn... that is your job. Supporting laws which give government more control over what information is accessible to your child is not the way to go, instead teaching morality and how to make righteous decisions is the best way.
Bypassing BESS
There are ways to bypass / disable the effectiveness of BESS. There always will be. I will try and figure out how to write a few ways in this spot later, when it isn't 3:35 AM and I can figure out how to explain them without getting too technical.
More Information
MSNBC reports on the US Department of Defense's purchase of BESS log files (the same thing that CCSD does not want public)
EPIC's FOIA request to the Pentagon
Peacefire
Another Slashdot Article and Discussion
N2H2
Clark County School District
No Filters (nofilters.org)
A Student Essay on Filtering
American Library Association's (ALA) resolution on use of filtering in Libraries
American Library Association's (ALA) Statement on Internet Filtering (I recommend reading this one... change the word library to "school")
Got a site? Email ben@efros.com to add it here!
Ever need an online dictionary?
My recommendation would be to start on the process of gaining information that would publically embarass your school district immediately. Below is proof that it takes a LOT of time to get information. The document is available at: http://www.ispep.cx/files/ccsd/bess/
... that is not pornographic."
I recommend visiting the URL, since it will always be updated and it is HTML formatted with LOTS of important links.
-----------
BESS filter
at the Clark County School District (CCSD) in Las Vegas, NV.
Ben Efros (Ben@Efros.com)
2:30AM February 1, 2001. Last updated 12:45AM Feb 17, 2001.
What is BESS?
Is BESS really doing any good?
Wrongfully blocked topics at CCSD
Should Artistic nudity be blocked?
My Efforts to Fix the Problem
CCSD Blocked Categories List
Advertisers get Privileges
Blocked Sites
What Parents need to know
Bypassing BESS
More Information
What is BESS?
The BESS filter at the Clark County School District is used to filter Internet usage for the entire district, limiting pornographic content, controversial subjects, information on drugs, and much more. Unfortunately the BESS filter blocks an incredible amount of educational and useful content also, including controversial subjects, information on drugs, and information on illegal acts, such as rape and even how to defend yourself.
If a student needs to write a paper on tobacco marketing or common ways tobacco is used in society, [s]he cannot do it whil at school for the simple reason that any site discussing tobacco's "recreational use" or "advertising tobacco" is blocked by BESS. The same goes for research on a number of other subjects.
Is BESS really doing any good?
Many parents feel that Internet filtering by programs such as BESS really does work effectively. But, by blocking information from reaching students by means of an automated filter actually causes more harm than good. Teachers have forgotten their duty to supervise students while they use the Internet. Many students often try to "press the limits" of the filter and try to gain access to topics that are normally filtered, such as pornography. One student who attends a school district other than CCSD has told me that "students now go into the library and try to access pornographic sites seeing how many are not blocked. The librarians have relaxed a bit now and don't actively supervise students, since they believe the filter stops access to such sites. Today, more students access pornographic sites from school than before BESS was installed, just because they want to prove that they can. It is funny how before we had BESS, nobody ever dared to go to a pornographic site."
The same thing happens here in Clark County. Not only do students try to access pornographic and adult content knowing that it is against the "Acceptable Use Policy" (AUP), but they also break that same AUP by accessing content such as jokes, online video games, online clothing stores, and more. One incident regarding the blocked category of Lingerie now comes to mind... Just this past week I was in class and two girls who were looking at clothing online which was not blocked by BESS, although it was definitely lingerie. They did not even know that they were accessing a site that BESS should have blocked.
An incredible number of educational sites are blocked by BESS for a number of reasons. N2H2, the creators of BESS, has publicly stated "our staff of 100+ Human Web Reviewers personally examines every site we categorize." Yet, still students can access pornographic sites through BESS and are then denied access to very educational sites. This is no surprise considering that more than 100 pages are added to the Internet every second, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. A team of 500 people reviewing websites would have trouble keeping up, even if they worked 24-hour shifts just adding sites. But the Internet is constantly changing, pages are changed all the time. With well over 15 million web pages blocked by N2H2, a staff of one hundred employees, reviewing 300 pages a day, would take more than a year to make sure their blocked sites are blocked appropriately. Can they really be reviewing each and every page? They have hired a staff of one hundred people (many who work only part time) to do the jobs that even a team of 500 people would have trouble keeping up with.
Is BESS really doing any good?
Wrongfully blocked topics in the Clark County School District:
Category Reason it should not be blocked
Weapons You cannot learn the advancements in weapon technologies over the past few thousand years without seeing diagrams of how weapons work. Weapons have been around for thousands of years, why would we only now stop the ability to learn about them?
Alcohol A student in Health class was assigned to write a paper on substances that can physically damage your body. This student cannot find out what the common alcohol-related causes of death are and from what type of drinks, because they are blocked by BESS.
Violence Are you telling me that I should not be allowed to see a person's death? Well, just last night I saw an Isreali soldier thrown out of a police station window and murdered by a mob on CBS. I've also seen a boy shot up in his own father's arms. Seeing those video clips on TV touched me, they helped me to feel sorrow and compassion. Is BESS trying to raise us students to be like machines without emotion? Sadly, you cannot form an opinion on the problems of violence without actually seeing it.
Chat What if a student wishes to discuss, in real-time, what is happening in foreign countries with the people living there? The ability to communicate with foreign students can be a very educational experience.
Free Mail By blocking access to email services, students are denied a means of communication with the rest of the world. How often do you see email blocked in business offices?
Gambling I cannot see why a computer program that emulates a slot machine is banned from my site... instead, I have to run down to the local 7-11 store and see the real-thing. Funny how the government does not ban minors from looking at slot machines in the physical world, yet it is banned in the virtual.
Profanity I was just watching PBS and heard the word "nigger." And I just read that book Grapes of Wrath and the guy said "These goddamned Okies are thieves." There are situations that profanity is used to document history and the mood of society, with all of its emotions, that people lived in at the time.
Message Boards Many message boards contain information about what problems or issues other people have faced and also responses and ideas of how to fix them. The learning benefits from message boards are incredible.
Tasteless / Gross If I am trying to learn the common ways ancient civilizations would sometimes "mutilate" their dead or learn how the ancient Egyptians would remove organs from a body before mummifying it, I cannot because BESS doesn't think my stomach can handle it. I think I can decide for myself and do not need someone else to tell me what I cannot learn about.
Murder / Suicide It is an issue many teens have thought about. Every year students in the Clark County school district commit suicide. We cannot just hide this issue by sweeping it under the carpet, students need to be able to learn about it.
School Cheating A student can learn about views which other students have on topics, such as their theories to why historical events happen. You can only gain such knowledge of what other people believe, by reading their works which may sometimes be term papers or essays
Hate / Discrimination You cannot teach students about the wrongs of discrimination without actually showing both sides. By teaching only one side of the story, students will not solidify their understanding of such issues. Discrimination and acts of hate are vital parts of history. If we cannot learn from society's mistakes in the past, how do we prevent them in the future?
Jokes Laughing is a proven way to relax a person. Relaxation at school is a proven way to learn. Learning is a proven way to get good grades. Getting good grades is a good way to secure a good job, impress parents, and satisfy the Dept. of Education.
Free Web Pages Free web hosts provide a place for information to be shared, freely, without cost to the author. There is an incredible amount of research and educational information on Geocities, Homestead, and many other free website hosts. What if an author cannot afford to buy "LearningMath.com" but still feels the information is important enough for others to read so [s]he posts it to Geocities? Is it right to deny students the ability to learn, just because the author cannot afford another way of getting their message out?
Illegal Sure, bomb making information is available on the Internet, but it isn't something that needs to be feared... instead parents should fear the idea that they have chemicals under their kitchen sinks that if consumed can kill a person and if mixed wrongly with other chemicals can kill a whole houseful of people by releasing deadly gasses. If we are to ban learning about explosives, then why don't we require that all kitchen cabinets contain locks on them to prevent unauthorized access to chemicals? Why don't we require people to be 18 years old to buy household cleaners at the local supermarket, too?
Should artistic nudity be blocked?
It has been agreed upon that blocking pornography and adult content is fine, but the question always comes up about artistic nudity. I will not try to persuade any readers of this article with my opinion... instead I would like you to form your own conclusion.
Artistic nudity is defined by N2H2, the creators of BESS, as "images of bare or visible genitalia, pubic hair, buttocks, female breasts, etc.
National Geographic routinely publishes photographs from different eras in human history and even hires photographers to seek out the way that certain people live throughout the world. Some natives in the rainforests do not wear clothing. Such photographs usually contain nudity and are then blocked. Time Magazine has also published photographs which contain female breasts and buttocks. (Although I cannot back this up, I bet that they have also published pictures containing visible genitalia and pubic hair. Email me if you know what issues contain such.) If I recall correctly, I have seen photographs of babies where their genitals are showing in magazines available at school. Open up an Encyclopedia Britannica and you will find an incredible amount of nudity while researching artwork from a few hundred years ago, nudity obviously isn't something new.
Why do schools often subscribe to such magazines? Probably because of the educational value contained within them. Why aren't such "dangerous" magazines banned from school, if nudity is so incredibly bad?
In my Pre-calculus / Trigonometry class we have a poster with a series of paintings on it. One of these paintings contains a man and woman, both fully naked!!! Funny how people in class never even pay attention to it, except as being a form of art. It isn't like us students stroll into class and just stare at the artwork all class period because it has nudity.
Should artistic nudity be blocked?
My efforts to fix the problem of filtering within the School District
After seeing that so much information valuable to my education has been blocked by BESS, I wanted to figure out how to fix the problem. I decided to start by sending the school district a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Freedom of Information Act entitles citizens of the United States to request government documents from any government agency. In this case, I requested three things from CCSD on November 10th, 2000 :
All documentation regarding the implementation of the Bess web proxy system provided to CCSD by N2H2.
All access logs that are recorded by the Bess proxy filter.
Documentation regarding the effectiveness of Bess at blocking Internet sites deemed inappropriate for minors and sites that have been mis-categorized by Bess.
[ Click here to see the letter ]
I waited one month for a response before writing another letter to check on the status of my request on December 10th, as CCSD had not replied or notified me of any delays in processing such a request. (Notification of a delay is required by the FOIA)
My follow-up letter requested the information below:
What is the status on my request? Why has CCSD not responded?
The Freedom of Information Act requires response within a twenty-day period. Why have I not been contacted by CCSD yet?
Who currently is assigned to handle my request? How may I contact that person?
Is the information I requested being destroyed in any way? This could mean data deletion, removal of tape archives, or the simple process of removing logs from the servers.
[ Click here to see the letter ]
CCSD finally responds!
A few days after the draft and mailing of my second letter, I received my first response from CCSD dated December 12th, 2000. As expected, CCSD did not work very hard to satisfy my request for information. Their their responses are below:
In response to my request for "All documentation regarding the implementation of the BESS web proxy system at CCSD by N2H2" they sent me a little marketing brochure [ front | back ] which N2H2 uses to try to sell it's service. Also they sent me a copy of the "Internet Filtering Procedures" [ page 2 | page 3 ] that provides a list of which categories are blocked by BESS. And finally, the third document they included with their mailing was a print-out of an email from Dan Wray (wray@ccsd.net) to Dr. Karlene R. Lee which was actually written by N2H2 and available online or on this website.
In response to my second question, "All access logs that are recorded by the Bess proxy filter," they asked for me to be more specific on which information from the access logs I am requesting.
In response to question three, about the effectiveness and mis-categorization of websites by BESS, it says that information on "blocking inappropriate Internet sites has been attached." The brochure and filtering categories documents satisfy the request. But, what about my question regarding sites that are mis-categorized? Well you could say that N2H2's "5 Step Review Process" never lets that happen, since they have over one hundred people working to review content and categorize it. So why do we still have so many sites being blocked that are educational!?
CCSD finally responds! (again)
I was sent via second letter, this time via certified mail, which was a response to my second letter (dated Dec 10th) around December 23rd (I can't remember the date). This response was certified to help legally cover CCSD's butt in case I chose to take legal action, because of their slow response times. They were really pushing the 20 day limit that the FOIA gives for an initial response time.
[ Click here to see the certified letter ]
In the meantime...
While I was preparing an updated FOIA request to gain access to the log files, I discovered that N2H2 has been selling those log files to companies for profit... while I can't even get my hands on them. On January 26, 2001 the Wall Street Journal broke this news [ mirror of article ] about N2H2. A discussion on Slashdot (which CCSD's BESS blocks access to) quickly erupted about the selling of such information and privacy concerns. One particular quote that hits on a few of the major points is shown below:
drDugan (jmd2120@eMail.com) wrote:
"I think this is pretty scary... just from the privacy implications alone. Lets summarize the situation:
The government requires kids to go to school.
Schools require kids to use the Internet.
Government requires special software in schools to monitor the actions of people there while online.
Sellers of the software can do whatever they want with the data, without any oversight.
The people being monitored (the school kids) have no say or recourse to affect the situation."
The bullet saying that the government requires filtering software in schools is referring to the "E-rate" program setup to give funding to help pay for Internet access in schools. Only schools under this program are required to filter.
After reading and taking part in the discussion myself, I decided to finalize writing my new FOIA request and get it into the mail as well as put this website up online.
[ Click here to see the letter ]
The idea that N2H2 is collecting information, about me, while I am at school without my consent and then turning around and selling it to third parties is quite disturbing. In addition to my privacy being violated, N2H2 is charging CCSD to use its filtering service. So N2H2 is getting paid to collect data which is then sold to marketers to make even more profit. And of course, they have a captive market since most schools want to be part of the "E-Rate" program funded by the government, which means they must have filtering of some kind installed. I wonder if CCSD knew that this information was being collected and then sold to third parties... after all they cite confidentiality as the reason which they cannot just provide me full access to the logs (see their response to my first FOIA request) yet they allow N2H2 to possess it.
Now I am waiting for a response from Dr. Karlene Lee.
CCSD Blocked Categories List
ADULT
PORN
ALCOHOL *
FREEMAIL *
GROSS *
MBB *
SCHOOLCHEAT *
WEAPONS *
PERSONALS
DISCRIM *
SEX
CHAT *
FREEPAGES * LANGUAGE *
NUDITY *
SUICIDE / MURDER *
AUCTION
SWIMSUIT
ILLEGAL *
VIOLENCE *
DRUGS *
GAMBLING *
LINGERIE
PERSONALINFO
TOBACCO *
JOKES *
* Listed above as a category which should not be filtered
Advertisers don't get filtered
BESS filter does an interesting thing that most filters do not. BESS adds a little search box and links to advertisers at the bottom of each page that is requested. These advertisements are certainly questionable considering that we the students are being forced to see them by the schools every time we have a project that requires Internet access from the school. So now the school district is forcing students to watch advertising on EVERY page they go to.
N2H2's business practices are questionable when they do not block access to the websites of sponsors and advertisers but when they do block access to similar sites. For example, I took the very first search result on google.com when searching for "penis" and compared it with the Encarta encyclopedia web page for "penis." Students must research the human body in an anatomy science course. Not surprisingly, both pages contain a diagram of the penis (or a link to it) and both describe the anatomy similarly. BESS blocks the non-advertiser's page (Anatomy of the Penis) which is quite educational, but the filter still allows you to access Encarta's page (Reproductive System). N2H2 is basically giving advertiser control over what students have access to and where they can find information by blocking sites and allowing their advertising instead.
What kind of advertising are they doing? BESS has banner advertisements for "Online Credit Reports." Funny how even with the "Personal Information" category being blocked by BESS, we can still go to their advertiser (Consumer Info) that "Collects personal information."
Blocked Sites
I will add new sites to this list after CCSD sends me a couple CDs of log files.
Textfiles.com - Contains text files collected from the 70s, 80s, and 90s which document the era of early computer networks and modem-based BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems)
@Stake - Security News Network - Reports news on computer security related events. This site does not promote crime in any way, instead it reports with a unique perspective on issues that matter to the online community, including privacy, online rights, security breeches, and more. @Stake is a professional company that conducts research on computer security and is definitely a safe site for school children even though it isn't very interesting. (Feb 5, 2001: This site may now be unblocked - N2H2 states that it never was blocked)
Devil Worship - An interesting read and definitely not harmful in anyway.
Teendate.de - A teen match-making site in German. Interestingly the English version of this site is not blocked.
Fire Damage - A very obvious educational site about four types of fire-related damage.
Virtual Prostitution Museum - Documents history of prostitution in the western United States. Does not advocate prostitution, instead it informs the reader of its history..
Classinfo - The site of a teacher at Chaparral High School in Las Vegas. Can't even access the page from at the school.
What Parents need to know
Often views as a parent regarding the Internet define what is good/bad and what is okay to access or not. But your child's views may differ from yours in many areas, including the idea of censorship itself. This is normal. As a parent, please remember that for a child to learn about the world around him/her, [s]he needs to be able to communicate with that world. Cutting off their best communications medium (the Internet) deprives the child of a potentially great education.
Freedom of expression, one of the basic rights of citizens here in the United States, is critical to the survival of this country. You may think it is okay to block websites that describe illegal acts, weapons, online chatting, etc, but there are more benefits to allowing your son/daughter to learn than to just deny access to information. When you prohibit online chatting and email, you are denying your child the right to communicate with others... it is as if you are forcing your child to go to school without being able to speak to others (or even the teacher). Online communications are quite similar to normal communications in a face to face meeting.
I know many close-minded parents are going to disagree with me about allowing students access to information which may document how illegal acts are performed. N2H2 says that learning about computer hacking and security is illegal and should be filtered. Computer security sites that discuss how crackers (commonly known as hackers) penetrate computer systems ranging from the Department of Defense to your local credit union are blocked by filters such as BESS. You may think "Great! Now my kid cannot become an evil criminal!" but it isn't that simple. These sites often discuss how to prevent such malicious actions too. I am a computer programmer and for my job I need to know how to create programs that are safe for public use and impenetrable by malicious users when in production environments. I cannot explain how useful such sites are to the development of protections, whether it be from buffer overflows, race conditions, symbolic link issues, print string vulnerabilities, or a number of other common computer security issues. (Just for the record, I am paid as a working student well over seven times what minimum wage is doing what I do, so it isn't like I do not know what I am talking about on this issue.) The importance of sites that are classified as "illegal" is more valuable than you may believe to a person's education.
Parents must realize that depriving their children of their ability to determine for them self what is appropriate can endanger a child even more than exposing a child to pornographic material. If your child cannot learn to see the line between appropriate and inappropriate while growing up in your home with your supervision, what happens when he/she moves out into the "real world" and no longer has your supervision and strict regulation of his/her life? If you son/daughter does not realize the harmful effects of drugs on their body now, what will stop them from overdosing as soon as they are exposed to it in the "real world" ? My point is that you need to guide your children in being able to make decisions for themselves, but not "protect" them from finding out truthful information about drugs or other controversial topics.
The Justice Abraham Fortas of the US Supreme Court once stated that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Your son or daughter still possesses the rights to learn what is outside of the approved curriculum of schools. Please do not limit their education and ultimately hurt their ability to survive in the open job market after their graduation from high school. Do what is truly best for your son or daughter.
Many parents think that if an Internet filter is installed, then their child will be blocked from accessing content such as pornography. Well, most likely you cannot access www.playboy.com, but that doesn't mean all sites containing nudity and pornography are blocked. Finding nudity, hardcore photographs, or adult sex stories is not difficult even with the BESS filter active. Anyone seeking such content will be able to find it from within any school using the BESS filter.
Do not rely on a filter to protect your child. BESS is not your child's babysitter! You are your child's babysitter. You are there to shield, protect, and guide your offspring in an acceptable manner, not a [capitalist] company and certainly not a computer program. The government's job is not to make sure your child grows up and learns the way you want him/her to learn... that is your job. Supporting laws which give government more control over what information is accessible to your child is not the way to go, instead teaching morality and how to make righteous decisions is the best way.
Bypassing BESS
There are ways to bypass / disable the effectiveness of BESS. There always will be. I will try and figure out how to write a few ways in this spot later, when it isn't 3:35 AM and I can figure out how to explain them without getting too technical.
More Information
MSNBC reports on the US Department of Defense's purchase of BESS log files (the same thing that CCSD does not want public)
EPIC's FOIA request to the Pentagon
Peacefire
Another Slashdot Article and Discussion
N2H2
Clark County School District
No Filters (nofilters.org)
A Student Essay on Filtering
American Library Association's (ALA) resolution on use of filtering in Libraries
American Library Association's (ALA) Statement on Internet Filtering (I recommend reading this one... change the word library to "school")
Got a site? Email ben@efros.com to add it here!
Ever need an online dictionary?
Normal bess configurations only allow connections on port 80 to the BESS filter. You cannot access any other system.
In order to bypass BESS, you must establish a two-way tunnel that can transfer data between two hosts (one inside and the other outside the filter). Their data must appear as HTTP requests in order to be proxied.
This is called tunnelling and is very useful.
You can also do something called DNS tunneling (slower, but it works).
Ever need an online dictionary?
I've seen in the logs of many of my sites visits from censorware companies like Bess... would there be any wisdom in blocking them?
I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation
Find ways to bypass Bess (if your a slashdot reader I'm sure that you already have) and use them with Gusto.
Get in contact with your school districts local head tech, find out what the PW is to bypass Bess, this should have been given out to your local Libarian so that s/he can bypass Bess when it blocks things it does not.
Spread the PW around. Legaly it has to be installed, nobody can do anything if everybody knows the PW. The fact is that NOBODY likes it. The teachers hate it (they can't access their own e-mail!) the administrators hate it (it keeps them from doing their job!) and the councilers hate it (it keeps them from doing their research!) The only people who don't mind it are the parents that that is because they don't have to use it. In other words, if the PW is only relayed amonst the students, and the one who starts sharing it doesn't mention that they got it from a school district offical then even if parents rat on the school district, nothing can be done.
If the PW is changed simply get it again and again, until eventualy the district has to give up and keep it at one known level.
This would remove bess's censorship capacity. But, actualy, the best thing you CAN do against bess is LET IT KEEP MONITERING YOU.
You see. . . . . Bess gathers horribley scewed stats. Imagine flipping a coin, but throwing out all runs of 3 or more. It would throw everything off by quite a bit, I should say! Bess gathers stats from only what students can actualy access, which is hardly what they want! Students hardly ever access anything at school that they would access outside of school. All the numbers are ridiculas and pointless, and if the company that ownes bess keeps selling those numbers, the people buying them are soon to realize that they are being ripped off. The numbers mine as well be random.
In liue of that, you could just use any of numorius exploits to get past Bess the Bitch. It is _so_ easy it is pathedic.
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
if you don't like N2H2's overzealous censorware, then you'll have to provide the school system with ideas for an alternative of the same stamp. With current attitudes as they are, I see no way for schools to avoid these products altogether.
;)
Hopefully, your parents are wiser and realize that sheltering high school students from things sexual is silly. I am equally hopeful that this sort of parent has also impressed their children with the idea that adult activities carry adult consequences. So feel free to surf at home. You're not supposed to be having fun at school, anyway.
My rant to protectice parents: Censorware is a symptom of laziness and neglect in parenting. If you are truly concerned about what your child sees, then see it with them! Explain what they see, or better yet, teach them how to surf without reaching questionable sites. (You DID know that can be done, right? )
Gee, thanks for warning me. You're right not to take the time listen to anybody with "political" views. You might have to think for yourself. It's easier to listen only to the "apolitical" people and accept everything they say at face value.
Thanks for saving me from manipulation by people with a sinister "agenda". I'm relieved to hear that the apolitical people have no agenda, beyond desiring only what's best for me.
About having student petitions or student surveys:
When I was in high school there was a mandatory "High Intensity Reading Course". It was mandatory because, as everyone has heard, high school students can't read. I surveyed 76 students with the question "Have you ever learned anything, anything at all, in HIRC?" The results were 75 "no" and 1 "I learned something about chipmunks". I reported this to the person on the school board in charge of HIRC.
The response was, "I don't care what you and your friends think." I didn't pursue it further.
So, there you go, data point. Students' opinions don't count. He's right, any petition has to be from parents, not students.
Sure, but they're probably hiding under the banner of 'were not using identities, just demographics'.
This is a very bad excuse, the demographics of where 8 year old girls are likely to be found without supervision certainly would be a bad thing, identities or not.
These corporates should stop pretending that demogrphics are innocent.
I know that shopping habits are not the same as child stalking, I'm just saying that children should be protected from demogrphic modeling.
"Only amateurs attack machines; professionals target people."
That's one of the most moronic things I've ever heard 'Felling Bored'. Child / youth demographics are key, and worth everything to advertisers? Have you ever watched television? how many of those commercials are aimed at children.
Definately represent at the next board meeting, and petitions are good as well. I'm sure the parents wouldn't like this to much, do you have a P.T.A. you can speek to?
"Only amateurs attack machines; professionals target people."
Age has nothing to do with it, and I'm sorry for your mother, but she is wrong. To say that "the net is essential for school work at any level" is a vast generalization that's mostly incorrect. Is the Internet essential for children learning to read? No. Is the Internet essential for children learning to subtract? No. Is the Internet essential for college students learning about particle physics? No. Most any text book and a healthy double dose of class attendance and homework will do fine.
What may be essential are parts of the Internet. Online encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and even your mother's homework assignments are areas that would be good to have access to in a school. There's nothing wrong with that. But to give children access to 90 percent of the Internet as we know it today is a complete mistake and has a trivial effect on the advancement of their education.
--
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
Sorry, I should have been more clear: "freshmen- and sohomore-levels of college." If you're writing papers about topics that books don't exist for, then you're obviously not doing first-year or sophomoric work, and what I wrote didn't apply to you. If you are doing entry-level work, then consider this: could you have written just as interesting of a paper using readily available information at your school's library? In most cases, I would say the answer is yes.
--
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
Employers rarely filter out websites from their employees, yet few people I know would dare visit Pr0n sites at work. Why? Because once you're logged into the system, every move you make is tracked. Employees know that they would be taking a huge risk by viewing the wrong websites.
So why not have schools do what businesses do?
Parents (who care) could request list of sites that Little Johnny visited last month. After Mommy & Daddy find out Little Johnny has a Golden Shower Fettish, you can bet your ass there will be hell to pay.
It is impossible to filter out all the things we think children should not be viewing. When we use censor-ware, we're basically telling kids is that we don't trust them. We should be trusting our kids by giving them the responsiblity to monitor their own actions.
They call that Civil Disobedience. It is a highly effective measure to counteract laws when you have no other chance to change them.
Hell, I didn't even read Walden and I knew that.
If you don't like that, then fine, pay me the 1000% tax on your tea.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
I can't ever fully agree with it. I think that idealistically it's a good idea, but in all practicality, it never works out as intended. N2H2 has basically bent over anyhow. Last I heard they were going out of business, and it's their own fault too. They flooded the market with content filtering software and they should have to take that in the ass.
Little Johnny walks into his school library, sits down and goes to some random pornographic site that somehow isn't being filtered out. Little Johnny's parents find out and are outraged. They go to the school asking how such a travesty could happen. The school blames the filtering software instead of inadequate supervision. It's all about shifting the blame that might happen away from the schools, and onto some large software multinational. But anyways, as for selling information to advertisers, ask yourself why you care. Do you refuse to have a debit card or somesuch because you're suuuure that some evil bad man is tracking your every purchase with it? Maybe they are. Even if they are, why do you care? Only someone that believes they matter in the Grand Scheme of Things would care, and, to be blunt, I'm not one of them, and chances are you arn't either. If you are somehow, especially while still in school, that's nifty...
But, to get back to my original point, learn to live with it. It's there for a reason. It's circumventable. If you can't, you probably don't deserve to :).
--------
Never call a man a fool. Borrow from him.
Have you tried the school-l and schoolweb-l mailing lists? These are specifically for discussing general education matters and internet matters respectively in relation to K-12/Highschool education. Mail me for details: for security the list details are not on the regular Web interface for LISTSERV lists.
FOR SECURITY? Why would those people feel they need special security? Do they have enemies? They should ask themselves why.
Rigghhhht That's why childhood obesity is rampant, and school districts are legislating politeness.
Although he is somewhat right. You may not have the money to fight the suit. What about your parents?
Skew the data. Have a bunch of you and your friends look at something arcane - quilting, perhaps.
Or, find a bunch of hardcore kids-with-goats pr0n and leave it lying about in teacher's directories...
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
yeh at my highschool most of the teachers either muted the tv or turned it off altogether.. once they started getting their hands slapped by the administration for it a few of the weak minded ones forced their students to watch it, but even then the ads were muted and roll was taken during the commercials
Let's face it: Internet access is not a necessary element of a student's first 12 years of education. Even it's value for the freshman and sophomore years of college is dubious at best. (How much time have we all wasted with email and web browsing? I'm glad no one is counting.)
are you kidding? have you been to school anytime in the last 50 years?? the internet is about the only way to get recent information on most topics.. half the papers i write dont even have books written about the topics im researching.. plus full text magazine articles, that you can only get off the internet because your local library can't afford to buy a copy of every specialized magazine out there, are great.
I remember hearing somewhere that kids lose pretty much all of their rights at school. I never understood how...I never saw this in the constitution:
kids dont really lose their rights at school.. they lose them the same way people always lose their rights.. they dont know what they are and dont fight back when they are trampled on.
given the new law requiring filtering software, the only recourse is to sue the filtering company. this will require a little work. first they need to get some adults on board. then they need to gather evidence as to what inappropriate material is filtered and not filtered, as well as evidence of the filter company tracking and selling the tracking data to marketing companies. then they need to contact the ACLU and sell them on the idea. it won't take many law suits to shut down most of the filtering companies, and when they are all gone, maybe the gov will catch on. if you can convince them there is a case, the ACLU will also be able to go after the law requiring filtering software, after all it is unconstitutional.
Actually, I would say fighting an injustice in the system is a good sign of maturity. It takes an adult to work themselves to change things.
It'll probably work for about two days, until our net admin catches up with it. Then he'll try to kill me, so I'll have to take it to the UN Court of Human Rights where I'll sue him for billions.
Well, that's the idea anyway.
That's something politicans will have a hard time ignoring with any sort of credibility.
I would say use SSH to connect to your home box, but then you might be opening yourself to up legal action...
-nt
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
I'm just wondering but what censorware sofware does your school use? If they use bess, try going to a geocities site or another free provider.
*ahem* NO. I have 3 times during the day which are academically, uncounted for. That's morning before class, study hall, and lunch. Your tellin me I shouldnt be able to check my mail?! I'm stuck in the shitty school system here and I already CAN'T check it. It's people like you who think they know whats right for kids but haven't actually seen the real picture.
Actually, once you're over 12, you can file a civil lawsuit. I just recently had to do it. I moved out of my dad's, and he actually came to the school and stole a lot of my stuff. I won.
Actually, once you're over 12, you can file a civil lawsuit. I just recently had to do it. I moved out of my dad's, and he actually came to the school and stole a lot of my stuff. I won. Without a lawyer.
I'm pretty sure he's talking public school. If your in one public school district, you cant just go to another without living in it. I checked. If you REALLY want to, you can pay the $6500 a year tuition to switch districts!
You should try and convinve a group of your parents of the problem, and have them support you before the School Board. You should still present something to the Board, but they should, also. After all, if you can't convince your parents, then you don't have a chance of convincing the School Board!
And if you don't get what you want, even after all this effort? Then pat yourselves on the back for the effort, and just don't use the school's computers unless mandated by a class. Go home to get that research for your class on pr0n. ;]
are you kidding? have you been to school anytime in the last 50 years?? the internet is about the only way to get recent information on most topics..
Kinda funny considering the internet as we know it today has only been around for the past 10 years, tops....
-Bucky
The few, the proud, the conservative.
-Bucky
I remember hearing somewhere that kids lose pretty much all of their rights at school. I never understood how...I never saw this in the constitution:
People have the right to freedom speach and freedom of the press(paraphrase)...unless your at school.
But that's beside the point...does anyone know if they lose a right that they would need to battle this? I'm not really sure as to how far we lose rights at school, so that would be interesting....
-Bucky
The few, the proud, the conservative.
-Bucky
By convincing the judge / jurors / lawyers that "bad" websites harm children, you'll just set them up so they'll rule in favor of censorship next time around, "for the children."
A better idea is for kids to tell each other about PeaceFire, spread the word, and then try to reeducate their parents.
Kids: Sit down with your folks. SHOW them how the blocking software lets you find "bad" sites. SHOW them how it blocks you from harmless and educational sites.
If we can reeducate parents from this attitude of "my opinions are your opinions", maybe we can solve the problem. Cynical lawsuits may help the plaintiff, but they'll worsen this for everyone else. (Though I'd love to see the censorware companies take a hit as much as anyone else. =)
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
I cant agree with you more. Even if you are goign to hire another lawyer I would advise consulting the ACLU first. This is one of the target areas they have been fighting very hard on and would jump at the chance to get this and set some legal precident. Give your local chapter a call.
Dalbert
If you want to see my code k9nl@arrl.net
Nick Luther
telnet to your box at home and use lynx
My school also contracts the service of this company... Has anyone else noticed that the firewall INTERMITTENTLY blocks certain sites?? For instance, /. is on the blocked sites list, (public board, people can say what they want, etc blahblah) but I can get to it 70% of the time. Sometimes, I'll come to /., read the front, click to go into a content site (reading commentary, etc...) and be blocked. This may help you convince them to AT LEAST change providers of this kind of service... and maybe just have a tech guy put up his own firewall... it's a thought
Gene Simmons will consume your soul...
It is unfortunate but you do not have a legal course to take action against censorware since you use the school resource. Furtermore this action may be part of a licence that the board has agreed to (remember again that this resource belongs to them). What you can do is boycott the resource but I doubt that that will be effective enough or, get the software out of the school. You have stated that porn gets past and legit sites are blocked. 1. Document the sites that get passed and the sites that are blocked 2. Notify the board about this. 3. PESTER THE BOARD TO REMOVE THE PRODUCT. note, a unified voice speaks loud so get a petition and or a comittee to remove this censorware. The board can take action if they can demonstrate that this company violated a contract or there product did not work as promised. last thing, get used to the idea that if you are going to used someone elses resources such as a computer and a connection that they have the right to limit what you do with their stuff. So this censorware will be replaced if the board pulls the current one . So why don`t you help by recomending the cyberware you prefer and help the board make its decision (be prepared to demonstrate why). P.S. Dont take crap from the board. persist with proof.
--Dave
As previously suggested, get lists of sites. Then, first things first, complain to school/library administrators. Don't threaten or even hint that you plan on taking action...just complain. Then, contact the ACLU (www.aclu.org). Your best bet is probably to go after the school district's use of the software, not Bess, since businesses get lots of leeway in the law, but school districts are subject to heightened scrutiny. (if you're in the 3rd circuit, it'll be harder, but still worth a shot) Be aggressive.
Keep us posted and good luck!
"Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information." -Samuel Johnson
We have censorship for one reason, and one reason alone: our educators are not capable of demanding high quality computing resources of any kind. The fact of the matter is that the US education system has such low wages and such a high demand that they have to accept anybody they can get as teachers. Tech jobs go for a lot higher pay than teaching ones do, so the IT people don't take teaching jobs. Computer classes are often taught by following a perscribed teaching format by rote.
The result: teachers accept anything that companies who make "educational software" throw at them, and then when the system is installed, the teachers think its foolproof because they can't do anything, even if students figure out how by, for instance, using the task manager to close the censorship program.
I can't remember a time when I didn't know more about the technology I was using in the classroom than my teacher (or teachers) did.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
To take a contrary point of view, the promise of an era of free information may involve a loss of privacy for all of us, but it might be worth it. Protecting our private information presents the same challenges as protecting copyrighted information, and I think it involves the same principles. You want to control some information you think you own, but somebody else wants to distribute it for their own purposes. Doesn't that sound a little like Napster?
Protecting privacy can't be done with technology, it can only be done with lawyers. I would rather see the legal climate lean away from privileged information and more toward free information of all sorts. Giving up more privacy in exchange for more free stuff is a good exchange.
Besides, the idea that web surfing is a private act is an illusion. It only seems that way because you can do it in a dark room by yourself. But the web isn't in your living room, it's Out There. If you want privacy, use email. If you want to take a stroll down Madison Avenue, surf the web, and don't be surprised if somebody takes your picture.
This is your government (though I know you're not a voter); you have to make it work.
I spent a year in Iraq looking for WMD and all I found was this lousy sig.
As best as I can tell, we don't use any form of censorware. I have gone to Geocities; that works fine. I know the sysadmin pretty well, and I routinely harass him in the "server room/office"; I don't think we have anything but WinProxy or something of that nature. They do, however, keep proxy logs. (They have numerous data tapes labeled "Proxy Logs".) SO I suppose this is a deterrent -- I'm not sure if they're ever checked, but they do *have* them... I occasinally put in things like "www dot hello mr network administrator how are you doing today i see that you are reading the proxy logs", and I'm yet to have the sysadmin comment on it... ;)
_________________________________________________
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suwain_2
That is probably a winnable case. However, though the students could benefit from the $$$, it will have the end result of adding fuel to the fire of more strict censorship.
Uh-huh, and until the perfect web censoring maching arrives (probably powered by a perpetual motion machine), what school district will take the liability of using imperfect censoring software?
By using BESS, the school district is censoring you, and claiming responsibility for what you access on the internet. I'm not sure of the license, but it may share responsibility.
Now, doing imperfect censoring is worse than doing no censoring at all. Check page 791 of the purple UNIX System Administration Handbook for a legal precedent.
So, arrange for viewing of objectionable material (goatse anyone) that BESS does not block and claim that it has anguished and injured you. BESS and the school district will be held liable, you just need a good lawyer who wants to win a few million dollars.
Good luck!
Play up the profiteering on the invasion of your privacy.
Then email the website URL to everyone on the school board, the local newspapers, radio and TV, local political and social leaders, and anyone who likes to get their face on TV.
Then repeat the email exercise at the state and federal level.
Next week repeat then entire exercise to all three levels again. And the next week do it again.
Post the URL to Slashdot and Declan of Wired.
I'm bothering our school board with this already, I've written a paper on it, and am going to present soon. this will help quite a lot.
All our teachers hate it. Since we are an alternative school, we get to use the net every 4 out of 5 days. When we do research, we go to the net.
Health class is teetering on the edge of cancellation, because we can't get to sites about Drug abuse, or Sex-Ed stuff...
The law says they have to use the software, but not _how_ they have to... have it filter something easy, like E-commerce, and that's it...
just my random thoughts, have a nize dayWebsense is the censorware of choice at my school. It's downright hilarious. The site blocks DarwinAwards.com, but fails to block Rotten.com. So we can't read about people who got themselves killed, but we can look at them..
Douglas Adams
1952-2001 :(
Okay man, this is my suggestion: Write letters to the newspaper. Write letters to School officials. Find school employees who consider BESS incompetent and get them to write letters to newspapers and school officials. Get well-known public figures (I.E. local business owners, government officials, etc...) and show them BESS's stupidity. Have them write letters to newspapers and school officials. Influence the people and you will influence the goverment, because it's a democracy. Have other students write letters. Start a petition. Find other ways to motiv8 people. Don't be passive.
LEGAL PRECENDENT! If you can do some research and find a case that exists, with similar circumstances (in this case, against blocking software), get all the info you can on it. If it rules in your favor, present it, if it's not in your favor, discount each and every argument point. Remember, it's your best friend or worst enemy.
The school board does not seem to work, Or even the district board, We use NSHS Bess, and they refuse to listen to me.
Quote: "I'm a little confused where you're coming from with that comment. Are you suggesting that the more common something becomes the less of a problem it is (which sounds completely backwards) or was that just a sort of random observation?"
I wouldn't call it a random observation or observation OF A PROBLEM. Cutting right to the chase: What the fuck kind of fascist purpose do you think the data collection is being used for? It is being used for consumer research, for crying outloud! What else would it be used for when the majority of the WWW is focused on commerce nowadays? If you see something horribly WRONG with that, you're nitpicking and yet again, are looking for another reason to get on a soapbox and complain about some idiotically perceived injustice.
2nd Quote: "Who, the school or the provider? I'm not sure what you're getting at here, if the school is vulnerable to action by the individual then a contract they sigend with a third party (the provider) is irrelevant. If the provider is vulnerable to action by the individual then a contract they signed with a third party (the school) is irrelevant. If neither is vulnerable to action by the individual then any contract they make between them is irrelevant. Or you mean the school can't take action against the provider because the contract lets them collect the data? That may be true but the school could choose not to renew the contract on those terms in future."
The idea of taking action with a school over the whole thing is absurd. Furthermore, put aside your childish American I'm-suing-you bullshit mentality (which is what your focus on the whole "legal liability" translates into) for a second and that into consideration it's nice the school is providing connection to something as dynamically moving as the Internet in the first place -- mabye students should appreciate that for face value.
3rd Quote: "An extremely defeatist attitude. It'd be pretty depressing if even at school age people had already given up believing they could make an impact on the world."
I don't apply that attitude to everything in life, but generally speaking you should try to accept what is unalterable. Building a strong dislike toward something does not always equal taking action when taking action is unrealistic.
mwtr / THIS SIG HAS BEEN PRAYED OVER AND MAY BE USED AS A POINT OF CONTACT (ACTS 19:12)
Isn't it against the law to have minors on your spam list? Sure, marketing can be directed at minors so that they'll ask Mommy and Daddy to go buy them that shiney toy, but as far as I know, companies can't say, "Buy our product." directly to a minor.
peace,
LabMonkey
I have worked as high school guidance counselor and can tell you often times administrators are concerned about covering themselves politically. You have legitimate complaints here but I don't care how good your presentation to the school board is it does not have much weight vs being in government compliance and/or appeasing people in the district. Students unfortunatly in many schools come way down the list in importance. So sue the school district. That is the biggest fear of every administration and the motivating factor behind a lot of policy initiatives. With the net the big catch 22 is that it is a hot button thing that you want your school to have so you are an A list school district but simultaniously having the net as safe and benign as encyclopedia brittannica. They put censorware on perhaps because it's now mandated but a lot of schools were looking at that long before as risk management.(read how not to get sued). If you sue them for say civil rights infringment or something. Talk to a lawyer I'm sure there are number of things espcialy the selling of information of minors that would put the district in a bind. Then don't settle. Then you will have impact beyond getting rid of censorware at your school. It will scare the hell out of all school districts and get them to put pressure on congress to repeal the stupid censorware policy because they don't want to be liable. Unless you are in a very unusally progressive school district if you play nice you are going to get shelved indefinitly with platitudes to string you along until you graduate and are gone and they don't have to worry about you anymore. Lol.
'nuff said.
Ah ok. Luckily we don't have that here in the Netherlands, where you are free to chose to go to any public school you like.
;-)
Then indeed, the kid has a problem
--sn0w
Why don't you people in the US try to resolve matters in person, besides going to court directly ? The Censorware thing, sucks as you state. Software is not perfect, don't you have an internet connection at home, to browse to those edu-sites that the software doesn't allow you to ? Is not like the school *MUST* allow access to them. If you don't like it, go to some other school. But, selling surfing habits is plain wrong indeed. Why don't you step to the sysadmin of your school, with a proposal of some other censorware-product that works "better" instead of going to court... If you come up with a better solution, I don't think they'll mind switching over in time. --Sn0w
--sn0w
Are you talking about COPA or COPPA?
I can only swear to one off the top of my head, but Bertrand Russell (a well known well respected scientist up there with Aimov and many recent philosophers) points out in his book "Why I am not a Christian" that keeping children away from sexuality only causes bigger problems in adulthood, and is completely unnatural. Basically make sure whoever you present to is shown that many respected leaders of our civilization find this cencorship very questionable.
I am in the same school as the poster, spoonboy42.
(rant begins here)
This is a school district that is not the brightest crayon in the box when it comes to their technology policies and actions, doing such things as giving all the teachers ibm 800mhz p3 boxes with 512 megs of ram running win2k but locking them down so you can't do much outside of using IE or MS word. They also refuse to budget for antivirus software for thier computers, while at the same time preventing those of us knowledgeable enough to clean up the current macro virus problems ourselves from doing so, even after we volunteered. In order to get the FoolProof (its the name of the product, not a claim of effectiveness by me) security system that they use on thier win 95 boxes removed for a project that I'm involved in (it caused our software to barf) they had to bring in a tech to do it and to make sure they were disconnected from the network, and we had to use bios password protection to keep anyone not on the project from using them. I have voiced my concerns about N2H2's policies to some of my teachers and a number of other students and they all pretty much agree with me. I doubt that you could find a student or staff member that has used the internet for more than ten minutes in my school who doesn't know what the "Bess can't go there" page looks like. I also seem to remember our librarian saying that she could not search for "young adult literature" because of N2H2s system, a good example of the overzealousness of the filters.
(end rant)
Since we will have a new superintendent in our district next year I think it would be best to try to talk to him/her about creating better tech policies for the mutual benefit of the students and teachers. I'd have to advise spoonboy that trying to deal with the current administration would most likely be a futile attempt and he'd be better off waiting and trying to work with the incoming superintendant.
Hey, I go to this same school. And I must say that Bess is one of several things about that place:-( Some of the dumb things that Bess has done over the past year: 1. Blocked several major homework-help sites. B. Blocked my site because of some obscure reference that they interpreted as a dirty joke. 3: Blocked dozens of CJI proxies that could be used to access educational content. 4. Not blocked very many porn sites (at least I have something to do during those boring classes:-) At one point, Bess blocked several sites expressing distaste to Bess, to our school. It blocks a bunch of political sites. It for several days blocked its "Bess can't go there" page, causeing browsers to repeated try to load the block page! Any site that isn't blocked, and is visited by a student is blocked within a few days. And don't get me started about the school! I won't comment on their lack of disciplinary or attendance policy, but I will comment on there technology policy. This year, the district bought 2 sets of new computers. One of them was givin back, because the district discovered that the contract the signed required them to pay. The other set were some of the most powerful systems available at the time cheap enough to put one in every room of over a dozen schools. Then, they bog them down with multiple security programs, two (in some cases 3 or 4) different passwords to enter just to access them, and no way to access those 10 free gigs on the hard drives for student storage. Half the time, the computers crash at around the second password screen. Make it all worse, one of the "technicians" at one of the schools attached notes to the sides of computers with magnets. At least this is better than the computers they used to have... I won't bug you with horror stories of overconfigured security on those things! Now, worse comes to worse, and they sell data about what sites we try to visit. (I say try because 9/10 sites are blocked, and plenty of that last 1/10 are porn) I'm glad I'll be graduating, and won't have to put up with the school, Bess, or the Reign of Kath-ros anymore. (Inside joke. Those who go to our school will understand.)
Then I'd just have to update the blocked list with whatever it turned out they were hitting the most.
If you are forced to sign an agreement, then it is not binding in court. So you can still sue, the school forced you to sign their agreement, on pentilty of lower grades if you didn't. That is not legal.
Getting a court to agree depends on how good your lawyer is of course, so contact a good one instead of taking my advice.
Why censorware isn't nessesarily bad:
Well you do use the school's hardware, the school's internet connection. Some schools don't use censorware as such, but block IRC and napster ports and the popular gaming sites with a firewall. They don't want the kids to waste the school's resources on things that have nothing to do with education, and could even get them in trouble with concerned parents.
If they didn't use censorware, some concerned parents could say: you are doing nothing to prevent our children from being exposed to porn, we are going to sue to get the computers removed from school. Now at least the school are doing their best, which isn't that good, as censorware doesn't really work.
As for monitoring surfing habits:
As long as they don't log your identity along with the surfing habits, it's the legal equivalent of standing in a store and taking notes on kids' purchasing habits. Nothing you can do.
Spam their logs with thousands upon thousands of visits to sites selling religious and educational books, health food, geriatric healthcare sites, www.whitehouse.gov etc, and make the data useless.
Actually, I was thinking conservative as in a conservative approach to testing, etc. not conservative politics.
Ah.
Their testing isn't political, but they do have a separate lobbying agenda that is left-wing in nature, advocating for nationalized health care in particular and greater government regulation in general. (I read the mag when I visit my parents, my dad's been subscribing since before CU stepped up its lobbying.) CU isn't anywhere near as bad about this as, say, the AARP, but it's worth noting. The irony is that their unbiased product testing is the best replacement for ham-handed government regulation. Go figure.
Actually, that hasn't been true for years. Consumer Reports has been pushing a left-leaning political agenda, socialized medicine in particular. Product reviews are still their primary focus, but I won't subscribe because of their politics.
The linked article is good, if lacking in specifics (which sites are "controversial"?). Just be aware that CU is not apolitical.
I said I won't subscribe to their mag (ie, won't give them money which would support their lobbying agenda), I didn't say I don't listen to them. Big diff.
More to the point, the poster I was replying to called CU "conservative", which is what I was trying to correct.
Not all opinions that someone disagrees with, or might disagree with, are flamebait. The above is an example of the former, not the latter.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Do you realize that a censorware app that blocks sites that contain the word "sex" would block the amendments to the US constitution?
These apps are pure evil and must be abolished. It's just another crutch so that parents and teachers can blame somebody else when the kids go astray. There's no way software can replace parenting and proper supervision.
The horrific side effect is that it keeps our populace ignorant of the rules and laws of our society, which I don't think corporate America has any qualms about. I'll bet SpoonBoy42 here would hit a brick wall if he tried to use the internet at school to look up ways to usurp Bess's market position.
Censorship helps nobody and is typically a tool of oppression. Let's not reenforce a precedent and casually let this issue slip by.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
I've found one place where using SafeWeb doesn't help -- a local university's library has a local filter that blocks any url with "member" or "mail" in it. Too bad SafeWeb can't somehow scramble the URL of the site you're going to so the local admins can't see where you're going... ("I see you went to monster.com through SafeWeb, Smith -- you're fired!")
I am definitely not a lawyer, but since filtering software is or will be mandatory, there might be a case here -- since the guvmint's indirectly blocking access to, say, Peacefire in all schools.
Contact the ACLU, or the national library association that is bringing suit against the forced use of censorware. You and your friends are ideal poster children (sorry for the term, you know what I mean) for the cause. Just remember to read all the /. and peacefire stories on the stupidities of censorware before getting up on the witness stand, 'k?
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
My God... this crap is still around? I remember dragging my maladjusted internal clock into homeroom at 7 AM, and having zit cream and Cheetos commercials blasted in my face. How demeaning.
The only thing you can do as a student is try to behave like more of an adult than you are treated. If you can do that, you win.
Everyone is afraid of the Internet because of the scary pedophiles and child pornographers lurking at every click, waiting to exploit the innocence of our precious and trusting children, yada yada yada. Put this in these terms. You -- the children of the community -- put your trust in this provider and they deliberately violated it and peddled your virginal assets all over town, to anyone who was interested, including to (do a little research first) advertisers that are associated with pornography (e.g. that are in any way involved with creating naughty banner ads or engaged in any way with any website of vaguely dubious decency). Presented badly and without any care as to the way your message is received, you'll come off as a bunch of whiny spoiled anti-capitalist (and thus un-American) geeks. Presented properly, the PTA will be up in arms, and hell hath no fury like a band of PTA moms in defence of their children's innocence.
Pros:
*Gives the ability to communicate with students from foreign countries
*Allows students something to learn about in their free time
*gets students interisted in things they would not normally be interisted
Cons:
*things which adults wish them not to see (we all know everything that fits in that category)...
As both a students and a network assistant, I can truly say that censorware SUCKS. We tried it, and found that it just does not work.
The reason it does not work is this: I would say 10% of the porn sites that I come accross are stationary sites (such as whitehouse.com). These websites are banned at the district forewall level. It is these sites that students say "hey, check out whitehouse.com", and then they see it. The other 90% of the sites are run using redirectoin servives and free webhosting. These sites will never be able to be blocked in time because they change URL's every 12 hours, and this is a lot quicker than the censorware will ever catch the majority of them.
We have put a policy into place:
You are caught viewing porn or other such material, immiediate consequences are at the bare minumum loss of rights to use any computer in the district for any reason.
You ask, how many have been caught? The answer is 2 last year and 1 this year. If you think there are a lot more you are wrong. Most people in my school do not know I am a network assistant (self-created title, we really have none, but its the best explanation), so they do not know I am watching. If I haooen to see something wrong, I simply go to that machine and check the users history folder. I have yet to see any that had more than 1 instance of this accidently happening.
ok, that was not all on topic, but you get the idea.
"And it passed: http://techlawjournal.com/censor/19990624.htm and allowed to stand by the Supreme Court. http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/149865.html." E-Rates passed. CIPA passed. E-Rates was approved by the Supremes. CIPA hasn't even finished its first round in court. They are 2 separate things, and while CIPA is a parasite on E-Rates, E-rates has been around for about 2 years, while CIPA is only about 2 months old.
Become a FSF associate member before the low #s are used
Not the same at all. Channel One is a one-way broadcast. They send 10 minutes of signal (with a couple minutes of ordinary commercials) but they get no information back from the schools. The ads are targeted in the same way that MTV is targeted -- teenagers buy stuff like acne pads, scooters, and cola. Duh. Annoying, but I'd like to see you find ANY law it violates.
Collecting web click data without consent is A Bad Thing. Doing it on children under 13 is definitely a federal crime.
In the US the Children's Online Privacy Act offers some protection for children from the school district, or anyone for that matter, collecting information on children age or younger. I would certainly think the selling of this information would be criminal at the very least.
p a. htm
However there is one huge hitch in the law. That hitch provides that the school can act as an agent of the parent in consent issues. This would seem to contradict the "spirit" of the law itself.
That being said I do believe that if enough parents strongly voiced objections to the collection and sale of information on children under 13 to third party entities, something would be done.
In case it is NOT done, simply collect documentation and enlist the aid of your local media. School officials tend to dislike media attention on subjects that may imply they are involved in child exploitation.( I view this as child exploitation, I hope you do too. )
Regardless of the age limit in the Children's Online Privacy Act, the collection and sale of information concerning minor children in schools simply should not be done IMHO.
Link to the Children's Online Privacy Act Press Release:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/9910/childfinal.htm
Link to the full text of the rule ( note the first link is a PDF at 270K ):
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/9910/64fr59888.pdf
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/9910/64fr59888.htm
Link on how to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/cop
And a link to the FTC Privacy Initiatives Page. This page has even more links to other pertinant information:
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/index.html
Hope this helps a little!
Integrity is what you are when nobody is looking.
"Regardless of what Channel 1 says you can and can't do, most schools just don't care"
Most schools might, but others will send you to jail. The colonization of our minds by advertising is proceeding apace. Sleep soundly citizens!
Who me, cause trouble? Nah.
Fight Spammers!
Fight Spammers!
My suggestion would be to find a sympathetic adult to go to the mat with you. It's absolutely necessary. It's almost tradition to dismiss cries of fould from students, but once a parent or respected member of the community makes clear that they won't leave until the matter's addressed --- that's a different storey. Select someone that will stick by you, is even tempered, eloquent, persuasive, and preferably connected. A teacher, librarian, youth group leader, or parent would be good choices.
For your part, start preparing a list of sites that get through and shouldn't, and sites that should get through but don't. Be prepared to demonstrate, and make sure that both are relevent (show the worst sites that get through, and the most educational sites that are blocked).
Finally, note that using a service that tracks children's browsing could conceivably pose a tangible threat to the children. There's no way in telling who buys, or receives what information and how detailed it may be. Were the information to fall into the wrong hands (a local child molester wannabe), the results could be devastating. And if something like that ever happened (and it certainly will someday), don't think for a second that child's parents won't sue that town or the state right into bankruptcy court.
Bear in mind also that you live in one of the most publicly anal-retentive countries in the world, where politicians and their sponsor corporations pay only lip-service to serious issues like this because the real votes lie in pandering to the large numbers of under-informed adults.
Have you tried the school-l and schoolweb-l mailing lists? These are specifically for discussing general education matters and internet matters respectively in relation to K-12/Highschool education. Mail me for details: for security the list details are not on the regular Web interface for LISTSERV lists.
Okay, they censor peacefire. But do they censor cnn?
g /
At my work they censor peacefire, but this still does the trick:
http://a1.g.akamaitech.net/6/6/6/6/peacefire.or
>Some have proposed using squid to block sites
No, please God no! They did that at the Waterloo County Board of Education (WCBE) which is now the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) and the internet never sucked worse.
It blocked out so much stuff I was surprised that www.disney.com wasn't blocked.
That plus the blocking was done by domain name, not IP. www.anonymizer.com was blocked, but www.anonymiser.com was being allowed.
I remember sites like www.nintendo.com being blocked. Sounds like there's no use for it, until you realize that kids get a lot more interested in education when it applies to them. Eg: English class. Learning how to write essays. How many kids would do a better job of writing an essay on what they enjoy? Most.
Well, none of the students could do it on comparisons of video game systems. Too bad really, since it would be a great opportunity to learn essay writing.
Remember the Chinese proverb:
Tell me and I may forget.
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I will understand.
Students can't understand their learning when it doesn't involve them.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
I have found them to be buggy and not up all the time. The best place I have found for going around blocking proxies is www.safeweb.com. They've been advertising on Slashdot for a few weeks. It seems to work pretty well, it encrypts everything using SSL and even works with Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, etc. (which the Anti-Censorware proxies won't).
--
Actually, I was thinking conservative as in a conservative approach to testing, etc. not conservative politics.
While I have not really seen a copy of the mag in a while, my first impression of the magazine is not political, but testing. I certainly can see their political views as mild, given the example. They do not go over the top in politicizing their results, that I know of. Given the consumer advocacy element of their message, I suppose you could position them as liberal, but this might not be quite right. And some folks get polarized by anything they see that does not line up with their views.
But the bottom line is that they say the software is basically junk, producing 20% or more of the time undesirable results.
And they are positioned to make the point.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
That's where you are in second grade. You can't stop there.
I guess we would have to agree that we disagree on that matter. Particle physics is one of the fields (astronomy is too) where it takes a very long time for printed media to catch up with material made available by research institutions on the web. There is no way you can learn about current research in particle physics without using the web at least weekly. As for researchers, people on the house here rarely consult printed media anymore.
Now, if we're talking 15-year-olds, it is not critical that they have access to the latest results. If they get access to it, however, it will significantly enhance their education. I get kids coming up to my office to interview me about things like general relativistic world models. To let them in, of course I demand that they are well prepared, and they really are, and they have been using the web to gather information that is hardly available to them by any other means.
However, what is most essential about giving them access to the internet, is something that has been mostly neglected in normal education: Kids are taught about what to think, but not how to think. How to filter out the crap in the Real World [tm] in which the internet is important, is so important that if you neglect it, you will have been given an education that is hardly useful.
School is supposed to prepare you for the Real World[tm], how can you possibly have an education without proper exposure to the internet?
Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
I can see that things are very different around here. For one thing, kids have formal power from the time they begin at school. From about age 12, kids elect representatives among themselves to represent them in the School Board. In some schools, these representatives may be ignored, in which case they may have a hard time being heard the way they are entitled to, but in my school, when I was in the pupils council in 7. grade, they sure listened to us.
Secondly, censorware doesn't have a good name around here. Especially in Denmark, they have a few highly clued people in high positions. Recently, the Danish Minister of Culture said she would consider a ban on censorware in public libraries! What happened is that one small public library put up censorware on their computers "to protect the children". Both the largest associations of librarians in Denmark oppose this, and the minister said she hopes the librarians will sort it out themselves, but also that she felt that the filters threatened free expression, she would interfere. She also was also cited saying that people seeking legitimate sex education would be hindered by the filters as one particular concern.... I have a link to the story in Norwegian newspaper, in Norwegian.
First, I would go to my parents and voice my concern to some of my best teachers first. For one thing, the Univerals Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 26 that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. Thus, the school should be careful about restricting you internet access more than what your parents say. If you find some good teachers who agree with you, preparing an argument as to why censorware is bad and illegal, is a really good school project, especially if you're preparing a lawsuit! :-) It would take an understanding of relevant laws that are beyond the curriculum, for sure...
However, I don't think a lawsuit would be your best primary move, I'd say first go for your school to drop it. Now, if you had the formal power we have, you would have a nice paved road to follow, but since you don't, I guess there are other people's advice here will be useful than mine.
Around here, I think the best way to kill censorware as a commercial product is to refer to fair trade practices regulations. It sounds to me like you don't have the same regulations like we do. For one thing, if someone advertises their product saying "our product protects your children from seeing pr0n", they would have to prove it. Of course, the censorware of today is pure snake oil, and all you would have to do is a short demonstration of that fact, and they're out. I think it would make a hell of a lawsuit here, I would consider it just for the fun of it.... :-)
Since you don't have a paved road in this case either, would have to work hard to get someone in power to understand that censorware is snake oil, and that it is not only that current block lists are poor, it's that any AI based software just can't work, it will remain snake oil for all foreseeable future. If you are able to get them to understand that, I think you've come a long way.
It's good that you're going to take up a fight! There are probably many who are suffering from these filters but who are not as intelligent, enlightened and resourceful as you, and who are not able to take up the fight. So go get 'em! :-)
Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
Yes, schools all over the country are now sending students to jail for not watching Channel 1...
The problem with capped Karma is it only goes down...
SIG: HUP
(Score: -1 Lack of real information)
Wasn't there a law passed recently (within the last year) that requires companies who collect information on minors online to fully disclose what that information is AND to get parental consent?
It would seem these datapimps have a disclosure problem here unless they're throwing up their privacy statement in front of the students whenever they access the web through their software.
STFW - I'm sure I've heard this recently.
www.aclu.org
1. What they are trying to accomplish.
2. Why they use software that does not achieve that goal.
3. What they are trying to accomplish (needs re-asking in the face of the bullshit "it's all we've got" argument that they'll give to #2.
4. Whether their half-measures are worth banning legitimate sites.
Keep it open, keep it public, keep a record. Bring a camcorder to the meetings. Petty bureaucrats are less willing to be their usual moronic selves on film. Again, the taxpaying, voting parents are important to have on hand; they get very indignant at stupidity and waste in their local government, espesially when it hurts their kids. They might even go along simply because you guys are willing to take a stand. Good luck.
I spent a year in Iraq looking for WMD and all I found was this lousy sig.
Anyway, my point is not to brag that I'm luckier than you... I essentially wanted to back this paln -- get the teachers and librarians to help with petitions. But my suggestion -- don't stop bugging the school board until they give in, unless they threaten to file a complaint against you for harassment. :) (And if they do that, threaten to file a countersuit...) However, I wouldn't recommend that you jump to a lawsuit right away. If you run out of things to try, maybe legal action is in order. But I suggest that you bug the school administration, the school board, etc. Eventually, they'll at least give due consideration to your idea. But don't do it on your own. I disagree with the above post, a bunch of serious students would have some weight. Getting teachers and librarians to join in is even better, but don't stop because you can't get teachers to join your cause.
Again, I can't help you a lot, my experience with getting stuff blocked consists of not being allowed telnet access through the firewall, and I was told that if I talked to the head of the computer department, I could probably get it opened for my account...
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suwain_2
Don't show what it lets through; show what it *doesn't* let through. Showing that the software lets bad sites through will result in them wanting to make it more restricting. Instead, show them what it *doesn't* allow through.
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suwain_2
Internet usage profiling is nothing new. It's quite common nowadays.
Not to sound hostile, but this really sounds very petty. Mainly because I would doubt you are really losing any privacy. A distinct username isn't associated with any of the data, let alone personal information. While you can argue it's the principle of the thing, it still doesn't seem like that big of an issue.
In any event, the usage contract the school signed with the proxy provider probably has them covered. It's a waste of energy to dislike something intensely that can't go anywhere.
mwtr / THIS SIG HAS BEEN PRAYED OVER AND MAY BE USED AS A POINT OF CONTACT (ACTS 19:12)
I work for a school district in NY and we recently faced a similar problem to that being described. When we first got internet access for the district, the "Technology Committee" (both faculty, administration, and community members) decided that they wanted to use a censoring program in the middle schools, and elementary schools but to leave the high school open. It was felt that the high school students need this access and would use it responsibly, if not, we kick em off.
There is a new problem this year with E-Rate. E-Rate is national money used to subsidize technology in schools. Basically, as school can get almost 60% back of what they spend of technology (computers, broadband internet access, etc.) However, there was a new decision made that to be eligible for ANY E-Rate money, the district must use some censorship software. The bottom line, our district now uses this software on all schools.
The problem is not what the Parents want or even the school district. From a purely fiscal approach, we CAN'T afford to not get this E-Rate money. If you want to complain, this has to go to the national level, call you congressmen.
IANAL but...
Most laws protect only the OWNER of the product against problems with the software. IE) you can't sue ticketmaster for outragious ticket prices because the stadiums are the ones paying for the service. Also you can't sue MS for damages because the OEM purchaned the software not you.
The best you can do is organize with the parents in the community, show them how screwed up the system is. When you convince them that the software is not working then tell them that not only are they paying gobs of money for the software but the company is now profiting from your information by selling it to advertizers.
Just don't give up.
Good luck, and happy fighting.
Frist step get permission to speak at the next school board meeting, ask them just what you asked slashdot. Your next move will depend on the school boards action.
Who owns your data?
Vice President Al Gore urged Congress on Monday to pass legislation that would require schools and libraries using federal subsidies for Internet access to block inappropriate material from children. "As we connect every school and classroom to the Internet, we must protect our children from the red-light districts of cyberspace," Gore said. http://www.techweb.com/news/story/TWB19980323S0011
And it passed: http://techlawjournal.com/censor/19990624.htm and allowed to stand by the Supreme Court. http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/149865.html. So for many rural and urban school districts, they don't have any choice. Censorship is required by law -- either that or back to a single dialup connection. :)
Of course, the school may not receive e-rate funding, in which case, they may be required by other local/state laws to filter access.
Photos of bits of the past hiding in the present: afiler.com
The TV Netowork Channel One has been in schools for probably 10 years. It has targeted ads that the school has to agree to make part of the instructional day (ie, they can't do anything else while it's on so the kids are forced to sit and stare at the screen). If that's not illegal, I don't know why this would be.
Did your parrents sign a document allowing the censorware software to track you browsing habbits? I bet not. This is where you fight. FInd a few parrents that are outraged at that. Get the most articulate ones to spearhead the suit to throw out that nasty software that is tracking kids browsing habbits. Only use the censorware's inabillity to properly as an additional hook to kick it out.
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"No"
"Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"If I say yes will you shut up?"
"Yes. Can we go to Mount Splashmore?"
"Yes!"
Open Source. Closed Minds. We are Slashdot.
http://osiris.978.org/~brianr/ians/
Or the many others here:+ Proxy%22
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Anti-Censorware
There's even an SSL encrypted one, but I don't know the URL for that one off hand.
--
Free Mac Mini
...when you're all minors.
Now, it has been revealed that data as to kids' surfing habits is being sold to advertisers.
Here's your edge. No one's going to listen to you complain about having censorwear in the high school. Granted, we all know of its drawbacks and its dubious legality issues, but you don't have the power as a minor to fight back. But where there's profit involved, there's power.
There's one thing that you haven't made clear yet, and there's two paths to take depending on the situation.
1) The school district has set up a contract with N2H2 over the profiteering mess where the district shares in the profits.
2) The school district does not profit from N2H2 and N2H2 did this on their own account.
Situation 1 is going to be the most difficult to counteract, because it's going to involve numbers. First off, for both situations, LET YOUR STUDENTS KNOW...EVERY ONE OF THEM. Power is in numbers. Then, let your parents know that you as students are being profited against your own free will by a corporation. Bypass the school district and write letters (with AS MANY signatures -- in ink -- as possible...yourselves and your parents) to your state/country legislatures and your govenor and let them know what's going on. Also, write a brief synopsis of what is going on and send it to news broadcasters, local and national (it's a lot easier now with the internet, although I suggest you send it both by internet and also by formal snail-mail).
The problem with the first situation is that you can't counteract it by yourselves. Since you are minors, you lack the legal rights (which are in the hands of the school board) over a situation such as this.
If the second situation is what's occuring, it's much easier to deal with. You can do everything I listed in situation one, but you should begin though with the school board instead. At the next school board meeting, get the biggest herd of students you can muster (believe me, when two hundred+ kids show up for a school meeting, PEOPLE WILL HEAR, especially the news) and introduce this problem at the meeting, or call in early to get it on the agenda and have a student leader address the problem. Having your parents there as well would help.
Again, it's ethically wrong that a corporation is profiting on your behalf without your authorization, but because you're a minor, this authorization lies in the hands of the school board and your parents. But belive me, the power is in numbers.
Last spring, a nearby town's principal decided that it was in the school's best interest, due to a drop in the budget, to fire five teachers while giving himself a payraise over the next five years. Once the students heard about it, THE ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL (about 900 students) held a rally during the schoolday in the gym. The principal showed up to defend his position (of which he had none, but he tried to defend it anyway). At the next school board meeting, the principal was neglected his payraise in the budget proposal.
Do you think that a site which is regularly blocked for no reason (there are many many) could potentially sue a censorware company for creating a 'barrier to entry' or some such thing? It is equivalant to the censorware company standing outside of your door and not letting people in, especially in the context of a school or library where even though the site, and the user are participating in fair use as per guidelines, the censorware prevents the transaction. Run on sentances are my spesh-eee-ality
"Only amateurs attack machines; professionals target people."
I'm consistenly amazed why the /. crowd, which is usually open-minded about many issues, fails to even consider the other side of this censorware coin:
- Do schools and libraries actually need Internet access in the first place?
- If they do, do they need unlimited access?
- How is installing censorware any different than just not buying a book?
Let's face it: Internet access is not a necessary element of a student's first 12 years of education. Even it's value for the freshman and sophomore years of college is dubious at best. (How much time have we all wasted with email and web browsing? I'm glad no one is counting.)At my engineering school, the same test administered by the same professors for the last 50 years has lower scores today than in the 1950's, when Internet access, calculators and personal computers were unheard of. For all our clever technology, when it comes to our intellectual aptitude we're stupider than our grandparents.
If anything, censorship in schools needs to go further. Instead of blocking certain sites and locations, censorware should only allow certain sites and locations.
But with regard to Bess, if you think you can form a lawsuit because a company whose software you used compiled statistics on your usage patterns, you need to have another think. Would you also want to sue Mobil for compiling information on its SpeedPass users? Or Ford, for tracking information on people who purchase its cars? Do you seriously think that you can launch a lawsuit against Home Depot for counting how many people purchased vinyl siding? Of course not. And so you can't with N2H2, either.
Quit thinking you're so important that your browsing habits actually matter. They don't, and it is the mark of the self-absorbed to be paranoid, because paranoia makes people feel that their cause is that much nobler. But in your case, there is no data that even ties you as an individual to any marketers, so claiming damagers--the basis of any lawsuit--isn't even a plausible option. It's time to drop the ideas of removing Internet access blocks from your school's browsers. It's time to stop spending time surfing the web. And it's time to start studying for your classes, which is how you will get into a good college, where you will continue to study for your classes, which is how you will get a good job, where you will continue to study, which is how you will do something good and make a difference in this world.
(If I've been harsh in my wording, I apologize. My intent was not to troll or throw out flamebait, but to seriously present another facet--one which is rarely seen here--of this issue.)
--
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
You'd be amazed how far a group of kids can go attending a schoolboard meeting with parents in tow (I did this once to help get our school district wired for ethernet in 1996).
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
The bonus for schools using Channel 1 is that they get free TVs. This is a very good thing actually - we've used our TVs to do in-school shows instead of having to heard everyone to a single room (and I get to do the whole production because nobody else seems to know how...). However, we cheat. We do some of those productions during Channel 1. Also note that students may do other things on there own, even if Channel 1 says they can't. Parents are allowed to remove students from any class, etc. that goes against what they feel is right - including the time that Channel 1 is on. And since no school I know of gives a Channel 1 "grade", they can miss it for the whole year.
PS - Channel 1 is also off in my class room right now. Lightning strike...
The problem with capped Karma is it only goes down...
SIG: HUP
This is a passive solution, but it will get you past the censorware.
Just use SOCKS. Find a college buddy or anyone with a box on broadband and throw up a socks 5 server. Then put SocksCap on the boxes at school. Download all of this here.
Now you can use the local applications and they will route all requests through the remote box. This is also a very good way to get around port limitations. If a school only allows port 80, but you want ICQ, just use SocksCap on port 80. Whee!
Of course, if you're paranoid you can also tunnel socks through ssh, which would encrypt your entire Internet session. Who's collecting your data now?
-Justin
You'd probably have more luck against the school district than the corporation. If you can conclusively and publicly prove that the software isn't working, then they'll have to consider other options. Mayeb show the local tv news a few of the sites that the filtering software lets through.
I am a lawyer, but don't construe this as legal advice...we'd probably both get into trouble. First of all, children are notoriously without rights when it comes to lawsuits. Besides the problems with standing (allowed party to sue) mentioned earlier, most of your "rights" don't mature until you're 18. Besides going to the school board (who also typically ignore students because their parents are the ones that vote and the parents are typically more stupid than the children) you may have a tougher time than you think. I would enlist the help of your parents. You need to sit down with them, educate them about the problem, and get one or more articulate parents to present the problem to the school board. Back that up with a petition from the remaining parents, and they you'll probably have a fighting shot...otherwise, if you present it yourself, you'll get the equivalent of "those kids are so cute" and you'll be shooed out to the playground to play on the swings while the board figures out which mahogany to put on the toilet seats in their board rooms....
Here's what you do:
Talk to your fellow students and get them to talk with their parents about the censorware situation. Stress the collection of your surfing habits and the censorware company's porfiting for them. Parents (read: NIMBY mothers*) will probablly become outraged at this alone. Also mention that the censorware blocks legitimate sites and allows naughty sites through anyway.
Talk to some of the teachers at your school. You might find some that support you. Ask them to talk it over at faculty meetings.
Try and find out how much it costs your school to license the censorware. Write into your local newspaper(s) explaining how much of a waste of taxpayer dollars censorware is. Cite some examples of legitimate sites being blocked (leave the naughty ones out). The public HATES property taxes and a good chunk of them go to the local scools. If the public sees their peoperty taxes being wasted, the mayor will get a few calls about it.
Take your parents to school boards meetings and bring up the issue there. They are going to want a viable alternative to the censorware. Here's one: an acceptable use contract signed by the students and parents that says if you do bad stuff, you loose computer provliges perminantly and faculty supervision of computer use. Stress that only a real human can watch someone properly, no comptuer can replace that.
Now remember, all these steps need well thought out planning. When you write to your local paper, make sure that you sound professional and have a professional appearance. Don't make yourself look like a bratty kid. You must gain support by others and you're only going to do that through good arguments. This might be a good time to read up on debating skills which you might need to face off against the school board.
* NIMBY = Not In My Back Yard. These are the people who yack on their cell phones all day yet cry foul when someone wants to put a cell phone tower within a mile of them, and the like. Give NIMBY females kids and they turn into whinny pains in the butt that you can't get rid of. It sucks to face off against them, but if they're on your side, nothing between heaven and earth can move them.
Web-Filter Data From Schools Is Put Up for Sale by Company
Sig: My Latest Censorware Essay:
What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)
The point here is that this is a referance from a source that they both know and trust. They have a heavy reputation for being unbiased, and they work at it. Mind You, it is oriented to Adults with children, but they do approach the matter in a factual manner. Here is their take on some of the more "controversial" aspects of the censorware debate.
Bottom line, if you as a kid go in and protest, well "duh", you tend to get ignored. But if you go in with a nice conservative magazine not known for politics, but trusted for sensible judgement, and they support you, then it tends to cut through the BS a little. Of Course, there will still be certain defense mechanisms, but it opens a chink in the armor.Not surprisingly, the censorware companies are incensed by the report.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
The problem being, peacefire is blocked by every censorship program I've ever had inflicted upon me.
Is it just me, or is blocking every site as "crime" which says bad things about iGear sort of immoral?
You should check out the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The ECPA act of 1986 may apply to the collection of surfing habits, and I know it appiles to email intercepting, screen recorders, etc.
My school had the same problem with software called Altiris Vision. I took the matter into my own hands, and removed the Registry key that ran the program on Startup, and was expelled from the district. It was probably for the better.
I'm re-uploading the page I did on the ECPA. You can get it here.
Hope that helps.
-Andrew
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"They misunderestimated me." --George W Bush, Nov. 6, 2000
So, if you want to really stir some shit up, you can call them and see if they can use your situation as a test case. We know for a fact that the ACLU thinks that censorware in public institutions is unconstitional. (I also know some of the law students there, so I'll tell you that they're pretty nice people, too.) You could be that test case, if you felt you were up for it -- you wouldn't have to pay a dime in lawyer's fees, but you'd probably have to spend a lot of time in courtrooms, and talking to reporters. But who knows, some people really like that stuff. Good luck.
Do domain names matter?
...is obtain and compile a list of sites that you may need to visit for research purposes (I'm sure many Bill Clinton sites are blocked that describe the premise of impeachment). Get a lot of sites on that list.
Then, start a petition. I don't suggest giving it to students, because the Big guys' response will be that of "yeah, of course the students want the censorware gone." Get teachers to sign it. Get librarians who have to explain to students why they are shown a "Bess can't go there" page when they want to get the information they need. Explain to them how N2H2 is selling out to advertisers the browsing habits of the school's students. Propose your petition and list to the school board, along with convincing arguments why any type of censorware is bad, and how it's just a replacement for proper supervision. Check out Peacefire for arguments against the most common censorware applications. Good luck to you, and I'd like to hear the outcome of your scenario, as I'm in the same situation with Bess.