For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Internet Filtering Software Wrongly Blocks Many Sites

Damages Educational Opportunities for Public School Students

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Online Policy Group (OPG) today released preliminary results of research on Internet blocking or filtering in schools.

The research examined the effects of N2H2\'s Bess and SurfControl, two of the most commonly used Internet blocking software products, on Internet searches of all topics from the state-mandated curriculums of California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.

Examining nearly a million web pages, the researchers found the following:

• Schools that implement Internet blocking software with the least restrictive settings will block tens of thousands of web pages inappropriately, either because the web pages are miscategorized or because the web pages, while correctly categorized, do not merit blocking.
• A large proportion of blocked sites are miscategorized-- probably about half of the sites blocked.
• Although curriculum topic categories more often blocked by N2H2\'s Bess product in an East Coast high school include such topics as the Klan (36% blocked), firearms (50%), drunk driving, slavery, genocide, and perjury (33%), they also contain topics such as pogo-stick (46%), comedy (42%), personal care (32%), likes and dislikes (32%), blend sounds to make words (24%), write or dictate short poems (32%), and "examine the effect of political programs and activities of Populists" (100%).
• Schools that implement Internet blocking software with the least restrictive settings will block between 1/2% and 5% of search results based on state-mandated curriculum topics.
• Schools that implement Internet blocking software with the most restrictive settings will block up to 70% of search results based on state-mandated curriculum topics.

The final research report will be available in mid-October.

Links:

• For this advisory and location of final report
• Action alert for Congressional repeal of CIPA
• Action alert for school boards
• Flash animation of students facing Internet blocking in schools
• AP article mentioning schools refusing Internet filtering in Eugene, OR

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/

Contact:

Will Doherty   Media Relations Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
wild@eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x111 (office)