Internet Filters In Schools

Warning: Access Denied Few can recall the days of reading textbooks in class and copying notes off a chalkboard. This is due to the fact that technology has become a common and nearly essential factor to the average American classroom. The internet is a powerful tool; the information it provides us with is nearly unlimited. The answer to almost every question is only a click away. Today’s classrooms come equipped with laptops, chromebooks, handheld tablets and many more devices that create an efficient and updated learning environment. These devices, however, are not being utilized to their full capabilities. Schools have set up web filters that deny both teachers and students access to millions of websites. These filters can function in many different ways, and

This act benefits education by keeping students safe and only blocking content that would be considered illegal for a minor to view. Schools who follow the CIPA benefit from E-Rate funding, which grants the school a discount on expensive communication services and products. The internet contains illegal content that can be viewed by anybody, including minors. The CIPA creates a vague, but nonetheless appropriate response to keep this content out of schools. Most schools restrict student access to websites through the use of web filters, which entirely deny access to certain websites based on a “whitelist” or a “blacklist.” Filters utilizing blacklists select certain websites and obstruct access to them, while filters utilizing whitelists block all websites aside from a select few (“How Do…). Both of these methods do a poor job of regulating internet content. Blacklisted sites are selected through a “safe search” software, which is a filtering method that usually dominates school internet usage entirely. The software works by locating and weighing