In tests conducted by the anti-Internet-filtering teen group Peacefire, more than three dozen political-campaign Web sites were blocked by the software programs Bess and Cyber Patrol.
The blocked sites, which represented Republican, Democratic, and third-party candidates, included that of Jeffery Pollock, unsuccessful Republican candidate for Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District. Peacefire reported that after learning of the report, Pollock removed a statement from his position page on Internet issues stating, “We should demand that all public schools and libraries install and configure Internet Filters.”
“Unfortunately, most people don’t care about censorship unless it’s their speech that’s directly censored,” Peacefire’s Bennett Haselton told the ZDNet online news service.
In another demonstration of the shortcomings of Internet filters, a test conducted October 26 by a Maryland citizen watchdog group found that INET Library Plus failed to block nine out of 10 adult-oriented sites but erroneously filtered out three of 38 protected-speech sites, including that of the National Environmental Trust.
The program had been purchased by the Montgomery County (Md.) Department of Libraries for use in all children’s room computers beginning January 1, the Gaithersburg Gazette reported November 8. Allen Hengst, secretary of the Alliance for Better Library Services, said he had warned the County Council this summer that filters are a “defective” technology that provides a false sense of security.
Posted November 13, 2000.