[attrition] See No Evil: A Background On Content Filters

[lyger]

http://attrition.org/security/rant/z/filter.html

Fri Jun 22 00:16:53 EDT 2007
Submicron

In 1999, Senator John McCain introduced a bill to the United States Senate 
attempting to limit children's exposure to pornography and other 
controversial material online. The final version of this bill was passed 
as part of an omnibus spending bill on December 15, 2000 and signed into 
law on December 21, 2000. The bill, now known as the Children's Internet 
Protection Act (CIPA), requires schools and libraries to operate a 
technology protection measure with respect to any of its computers with 
Internet access that protects against access through such computers to 
visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to 
minors, and further that such a technology protection measure be employed 
during any use of such computers by minors. Provisions within the law 
exist to require the ability to override the protection for adults, to 
enable access for bona fide research or other lawful purpose.

Although previous attempts to restrict indecent or objectionable Internet 
content failed to overcome Supreme Court challenges on First Amendment 
grounds, CIPA took a completely different approach. The federal government 
lacked any direct method by which to control local school or library 
boards. Many schools and libraries, however, utilized universal service 
fund discounts, derived from the universal service tax paid by 
telecommunications users, to purchase Internet access, computers and 
networking equipment. CIPA requires that schools and libraries using 
these, so-called E-Rate discounts, purchase and use a technology 
protection measure on every computer connected to the Internet. 
Interestingly, CIPA does not provide funding for the purchase of the 
required technology protection measure.

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