K12> [WWWEDU] Well, there goes CIPA - NOT
- From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:25:29 -0500
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: "Art Wolinsky" <awolinsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 07:45:21 -0500
Subject: [WWWEDU] Well, there goes CIPA - NOT
At 09:40 AM 4/21/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>EVERY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR who mistakenly thinks they have solved the
>problem of Internet porn with the use of filtering software should read this
>article.
More importantly, the government needs to understand that legislation in
not as powerful as education in keeping kids safe.
Kids don't need this software to get around filters to get to the porn that
CIPA addresses. The best search engine on the web has only a small portion
of the web cataloged. What leads anyone to believe that the best filter
blocks any more than a small percentage of the adult sites. Any student
who want's porn can get to it regardless of what filter is in place.
>Note, in this article it discusses that the software can be used to get
>around school filters and home filters.
Yes, it does and it's unfortunate that will latch on to the negative
potential, rather than the good it can do. The article addresses two
possible uses of the software, but I've been working with the software for
the past few weeks and have an exchange with Bennett Hasleton, about the
uses and the expected public reaction.
I'm convinced that if schools are proactive, they can actually harness the
software so that it is used to better monitor student Internet access, more
effectively manage the Acceptable Use enforcement , and provide teachers
with a way of providing access to sites that are blocked inappropriately,
thus addressing one of the major complaints about filters. To do so
requires understanding the nature of the software and how it functions. It
is simply a tool and as with any tool, it can be put to use in many ways.
The article doesn't touch on the idea that if such a server was under the
control of a school district, they could sanction use of it (assuming it
passes legal muster) to provide access to sites blocked inappropriately,
while making access to similar proxy servers a violation of the AUP. Both
types of transactions are trackable.
A word about the nature of the software. The software is not loaded on a
school computer. The person would simple type in the URL of the proxy
server they or someone else set up at home. Jeff is correct that this kind
of software is not new. It has been around for ages (in Interent
years). What make this different is that before, you needed to be very
technically adept to set one up and you needed an always on Internet
connection. With cable and DSL, millions have had the connection but only
a small handful had the skill. Circumventor software is simple to install
and configure, thus giving millions on people the ability to set it up on
their home computers.
It has the potential to spread with the rapidity and via much the same
mechanism as peer-to-peer software such as Morpheous, Gnutella, Kaaza, and
LimeWire, which means it can't be ignored, at least not without consequences.
What's also unique about this situation is that the software is has only
been out two weeks. That means that it has not yet proliferated and we
have the opportunity to be proactive, rather than reactive.
But what about CIPA? Well the software itself is perfectly legal. Anyone
can set it up anywhere. I fear that someone in the government will have a
knee jerk reaction and say that schools can set these servers up and can't
allow students to use it to get to sites that are blocked in error, because
it's the same as disabling a filter.
The would be the ultimate irony. It would mean that they first put the
responsibility for using ineffective filters made by companies with no
incentive to improve their product, and then would make sure that schools
were the only ones who could not use it to address the problem they created
and ignored.
Every AUP already contains language that makes it clear what sites can not
be visited. If schools put Circumventor servers in place, they could set
policies stipulating that accessing to any other Circumventor server would
be a violation of the AUP. They could define conditions on how and who can
assess it to get to sites that are inappropriately blocked. Since every
transaction is logged by the Circumventor schools can see exactly how it is
being used and better enforce the AUP. Additionally, knowing what to look
for makes it easy to inspect regular firewall logs to see if anyone is
accessing other outside Circumventor servers.
Now what about schools that don't want to set up these servers? Can they
simply say that visiting any Circumventor server is an AUP violation? If
you do that, you probably think that its a good plan to arm people with
tooth picks to kill mosquitos.
If anything, Circumventor is software that will force more schools to pay
attention to where there students are going at what they are doing.
Let's see if we can use it use it to address some of the concerns raised by
CIPA.
Art
Art Wolinsky <awolinsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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