[DDN] Do Internet Filters Undermine the Teaching of21st Century Citizenship?

[Dave Chakrabarti]

Don,

You make a great point; if filters are implemented to share bandwidth  
more equitably (it might be more important for 100 people to have  
email than for 3 to have video), they are certainly an effective  
tool, especially in broadband backwaters such as the United States.

However, I think people are generally annoyed by content-based  
filtering. Filters aren't very *good* at this yet; filters that  
cannot identify risque YouTube videos will err on the side of caution  
and block YouTube. Similarly, filters (and adults) that can't easily  
guarantee digital safety for teens on MySpace find it easier to just  
block MySpace. It's always easier to censor than to educate; filters  
are a reflection of this. Whether this is effective or not is another  
matter.

Sadly, content-based filtering may become required to "have access at  
all" in some environments; in the US, for example, there is still a  
strong movement to mandate that schools and other educational  
institutions block access to any website that is "interactive" in the  
name of online safety.

This could block access to MySpace not because of the bandwidth loss,  
but because they've failed to teach children how to use online social  
networking safely and effectively. A filter is a poor substitute for  
education.

For employment settings, I think filtering would be a viable option  
if there were filters that were *good* at filtering. For example,  
could a nonprofit employee do research on breast cancer or on child  
trafficking without tripping a filter? Google sometimes has trouble  
with this, even with all the R&D put into their algorithm; I doubt  
small commercial attempts to create better algorithms will succeed.

   Dave.

------------------------
Dave Chakrabarti
Director of Programs
Grassroots.org


On Jul 26, 2007, at 10:59 AM, Don Cameron wrote:

>> In my case, Internet filters are undermining my abilities to access
>> information I need to do my job most effectively...
>
> Yet it may be this filter is enabling your ability to access  
> information if
> by it's existence you have access at all. Comments deriding  
> Internet filters
> sometimes fail to consider why filters are installed. If for  
> censorship,
> then I agree; the use of censorship filters may well restrict and  
> undermine
> legitimate attempts to access information. However if a filter is  
> installed
> for bandwidth management; to allow the highest number of users the  
> most
> benefit from a physically finite resource then the filter becomes  
> an enabler
> to the greatest number (albeit some high-bandwidth technologies like
> streaming video may be restricted). Many Internet 'filters' are in  
> fact
> caching proxy servers designed to provide connectivity to more  
> people than
> is otherwise possible on a given level of bandwidth. These filters are
> designed to share a limited resource in an equitable manner.
>
> DC
>
>
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