Fuckin hell. I just wrote a long article on filtering software and decided I needed to erase it. Cause it was crap. The whole thing is pretty simple.
Filtering software, and the companies that make it, are lying to you.
I’m not talking about goofy glitches like when CyberPatrol banned part of the WHite House’s web site.
I’m talking about banning access to Amnesty International information. Banning access to human rights articles and web sites. Banning access to religious sites. And even shooting it’s own foot off by banning any web site, from small sites like Peacefire, to huge corporations like Time magazine, when they call into question the effectiveness and ethics of these software packages.
These site’s wont coorupt you’re children or grow hair on your palms. They might challenge you topull your head out of the sand (you thought I was gonna say ass, admit it).
Every major software package in this field claims that every site they specifically ban is first reviewed by a human being to ensure applicability. So who is the warped SOB who decided people shouldn’t know about The AIDS Quilt, the Vatican, youth soccer leagues, and breast cancer research?
And if for some reason mom and dad decided not to be the lazy slobs most corporations assume them to be, and they actually monitor their children’s habits, you may still be blocked from some sites. Because there are now Internet providers who are filtering out some sites before they even get to your computer. (And you thought you were paying for the whole internet, silly rabbit). And these arent small fry providers run by religious zealots in East Bumpafuck, Wisconsin. These are internet backbone companies like AboveNet and Teleglobe, who provide access to potentially millions.
Do yourself a favor. If you are at all responsible for computers in a public space, be it libraries, schools, offices, or otherwise, find out what you’re being protected from. Visit Peacefire.org. Read Access Denied, published by GLAAD. And check out the Internet Free Expression Alliance.
That is, unless some software blocks you from doing so.