Dice filters fun

Dice filters fun

Monday, January 14, 2008

By Miriam Shiffman, Allderdice High School (City of Pittsburgh Schools)

You’re sitting in the library, browsing Google. A certain link catches your eye and you click on it, only to be faced with the infamous flashing ‘WARNING!’ sign that characterizes a blocked page. Good thing the filter saved you from that potentially scarring website! Or is it?

According to Librarian Dale Bizub, the Internet filter, which was implemented District-wide during the 2000-2001 school year, is designed to "keep things out of our system that would be potentially harmful to students, staff, and [could cause] potential legalities."

Imagine a coffee filter separating the bitter coffee grounds from your cup. Similarly, the Internet filter sorts out unsavory websites in order to leave students and staff with the best possible taste in their mouths after using school computers.

However, unlike those using a coffee filter, many Internet users resent being denied the proverbial bitter stuff. "The school filter is completely inane in most circumstances!" said junior Dana Schneider.

One of the main places where students encounter the filter is Google Image Search, which is blocked "due to the inability to filter the text of an image returned," said Nancy Rosso, Call Center Manager at the Office of Information and Technology for the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

"It’s frustrating when I’m trying to work on a school project and I can’t get the pictures I need," said junior Yael Engel, "Especially when you’re working on a poster or something."

"I never realized that pictures of Jean-Jacques Rousseau were inappropriate for school!" said Schneider.

Teachers have also been inconvenienced by the filter. "We’re doing a unit on satire, and I can’t link to The Onion," said English teacher Josh Slifkin, referring to a weekly newspaper which features articles that parody current events.

Other teachers have suffered from the inability to use Dogpile, a search engine with a larger database than Google, to look up students’ papers and check for plagiarism.

"Most filters over-filter," said Bizub. "They’re not a fool-proof system...There’s not somebody sitting there saying, ‘we’re going to block this’ and ‘we’re going to block that.’"

Bizub e-mails the Office of Instructional Technology whenever students question why a website that seems "perfectly innocuous" has been blocked. There it is evaluated to determine "how/where it fits in accordance with the District’s adopted guidelines" and treated accordingly, said Rosso.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools District Guide defines ‘inappropriate matter’ online as "...any material that contributes to intimidation, constitutes a safety/security concern, threatens, is deemed as ‘tasteless’ by the District’s filtering application, or violates any existing District Policy."

In fact, the filter is not only District policy, but a federal mandate. The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires public libraries and schools to install filtering software in order to receive federal funding for Internet technology.

These libraries and schools must verify that they have taken measures to block Internet access to inappropriate images and other matter, to monitor the online activity of minors, and to secure their safety when communicating electronically. They must also address illegal activities such as hacking, and the "unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors," according to the Federal Communications Commission’s website.

According to Rosso, the mechanism of the filter is relatively simple. "Websites are reviewed and categorized under different classifications. These groupings are then able to be monitored and controlled for access accordingly." Classifications include extreme, mature, hate speech, sex, spyware (websites that install spying software without users’ permission), and anonymizer/translator (those that enable users to access blocked sites).

In order to remain effective in an ever-changing online world, the parameters on the filter are constantly modified as the Internet evolves. "The District’s filter database is updated aggressively depending on daily scheduled upgrades, conditions, and current real-time needs," said Rosso.

So the websites that are here today, may be gone tomorrow.