“As the world enters the 21st century, the access to information and freedom of speech provided by the Internet and other digital technologies have revolutionized the nature of censorship challenges and opened an entirely new realm of legal and social ramifications for censorship in United States schools” (Simmons and Dresang Back Cover). Likewise, the increasing role of the more traditional varieties of expression, such as that of free speech, literature, and choice of clothing, coupled with the new ideas stemming from the modern digital revolution, continue to push back on attempts to censor. The Fairfax County Public Schools system, along with school systems all over the country, has employed the use of various censorship over the years, under the justification of safeguarding the interests of students and faculty members alike. However, many feel as though their civil liberties are being infringed upon by the school and other governing bodies at play. Nevertheless, censorship in all of its forms is discernibly fashioning strain on the daily lives of students and teachers, …show more content…
Presently a federal law, the Children’s Internet Protection Act was enacted in 2000 and mandates the filtering or blocking of certain Internet content by all public elementary and secondary schools and libraries that receive funding through the E-rate, a federal program subsidized by the Federal Communications Commission to reduce the cost of telecommunication services (“Children's Internet Protection Act” 1). This means that schools who wish to receive this sort of funding must establish an Internet Safety Policy and use technology protection measures that block or filter Internet access to material that is considered indecent, child pornography, or that the local school