Filters’ Flaws Are “Fundamental,”
Expert Report Reveals
A computer expert retained by the American Civil Liberties Union as part of its constitutional challenge to the Children’s Internet Protection Act has concluded that “the flaws of blocking programs are fundamental.” Benjamin Edelman of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society reported after testing CyberPatrol, Bess, SmartFilter, and Websense Enterprise that filtering software can neither “block all content on the Internet that meet certain definitions” nor “allow access only to a specific blocked site during a limited time period for a particular user for a specific purpose,” as CIPA requires to meet patrons’ research needs.
Published online October 15, the “Expert Report of Benjamin Edelman” explains that Edelman encountered both over- and underblocking despite configuring the four programs to filter only sexually explicit material. Among 6,777 sites reported as erroneously blocked were ionlywear.com, a commercial URL that sells undergarments, and Stay Erect, an online merchant of erectile-dysfunction aids.
Edelman’s report will be submitted to the Supreme Court as evidence in Multnomah v. United States of America, in which the American Library Association is one of 35 plaintiffs, and which is slated to be heard on February 14, 2002.
Posted November 12, 2001.
|
