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.

Comments

Re:Talk to the board first

[jsproul]

It sounds like you have three major points, at least two of which are of interest to the school board. Make sure you prepare, prepare, prepare before you even engage with the school board.

I would strongly suggest you find an "advisor", preferably a librarian, teacher or administrator to assist and guide you in your efforts - no doubt they are at least somewhat familiar with the politics and dynamics of the school board. They should come with you to the board meeting, although they do not need to participate in the presentation. They are there to advocate for you, to lend legitimacy to your efforts in the eyes of those who may not be so enlightened about the validity of minors' concerns, and to help you make the best presentation you possibly can.

In your preparations, be very organised. Focus on the two of three points that will best achieve your ends: (1) the software prevents you from visiting valuable research sites; and (2) the software is being used to violate your privacy to enrich this greedy corporation.

On (1), as others have said, make sure you have a long list of sites. However, you should also detail the merits of the top 3 and be prepared to answer questions on the top 10. Have at least a few notes on each site to refer to if a question is asked about its content. You should have some screenshots of the top 10 so people can see and understand what this resource is you are trying to access so that they can see for themselves how valuable it is.

On (2), make sure you have one or more good analogies to what this company are doing that could be understood by someone who has never used a computer in their life. Remember, you're addressing the least common denominator here - the general public. Make your arguments relevant to these people by couching them in terms of everyday life.

I would not raise the issue of the software failing to block some sites - it complicates the discussion unnecessarily, and does not advance your position. It might even hurt your position by suggesting to some that (a) you are a troublemaker who wants to look at porn; and/or (b) stronger measures are needed, like disconnecting the 'net completely. If someone raises this issue, simply deflect it back to your main arguments by stating "We're not trying to look at porn, so it doesn't matter. We're much more concerned about the fact that this software prevents us from using the 'net for our education and invades our privacy." This should win you some points *and* avoid an emotionally-charged "morals" issue.

To summarise, prepare very well, partner with an authority figure who is respected in the community and in school politics, and organise your presentation very carefully so that every point you make comes back to your central argument: we need to get rid of this software.

Good luck!

Electronic Communications Privacy Act

[Freshman]

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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Re:trap them

[Seth Finkelstein]

There is a piece on censorware.org that talks about some political campain sites being blocked

That was in fact Blind Ballots by peacefire.org

And you won't find any censorware reports on censorware.org these days. Michael Sims (yes, that Michael Sims, Slashdot YRO editor) shut-down the censorware.org site, in a failed coup d'etat to control Censorware Project. Some of the material is now on a different site, censorware.NET.

The history is given in my essay below. Michael Sims has taken to abusing his Slashdot editorial position, to downgrade my postings whenever I mention what he did. Maybe this'll slip through. It's worth burning the karma over it.

Note censorware.NET would also like Michael Sims to stop confusing people over the domain names. No luck so far.

Sig: My Latest Censorware Essay:
What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

Call the ACLU

[fhwang]

It's pretty simple: Find a legal advocacy organization such as the American Civil Liberties Union and ask them if they'd be interested in turning your situation as a test case. The unconstitutionality of a law can't be determined when the law is signed; it can only be determined after the fact, when that law is applied to an actual situation involving actual people. This means that although the ACLU has a big staff of lawyers and law students who do the legal research & court litigation, they can't initiate the lawsuits themselves. They need to find a plaintiff directly affected by the law in question, so they can initiate the suit.

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.

What you need to do...

[snellac]

...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.