Content filtering for public libraries

The issue of content filtering of the Internet has come up yet again. Some libraries are seeking more E-rate funding in the Internet Access categories and are thus looking at CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) compliance and "technology protection measures." Others are looking for solutions to problem patrons abusing the library's internet.

Internet filtering is a difficult and contentious issue among librarians. Some feel that filters must NEVER be used for ANYONE in the library. These librarians see the defending the First Amendment access to information as the overriding responsibility of librarians. Filters can interfere with constitutionally protected speech so they cannot even be considered. Other librarians are interested in protecting library patrons from illegal and objectionable materials that may be encountered on the Internet. Schools often block anything that might possibly be considered problematic or objectionable. Unfortunately, this can prevent students from accessing information they need to complete assignments. It can also prevent public library patrons from accessing legal and unobjectionable sites like web email or social networks from school/community libraries.

Many librarians find themselves between the two extremes and are looking for solutions that will help block illegal and objectionable sites while allowing access to the vast majority of Internet content. I think that filters when chosen with care and used judiciously can help and will allow the libraries to comply with CIPA.

Unfortunately for busy librarians, selecting the right filter is going to take some study and trials. TechSoup has some good basic information:

• Understanding Content Filtering: An FAQ for Nonprofits - What to know before you restrict access to online materials
• Content-Filtering Tools: An FAQ for Nonprofits - Advice to help you choose software or hardware for your computer lab
• One of the resources recommended in these articles is LibraryFiltering.org
• Another recommended review site is Top Ten Reviews Internet Filter Software Reviews
  

I think you need to start with your library's Internet policy. My colleague Tracy Cook led a workshop at the 2011 MLA/MPLA Annual Conference on Library Internet Policies. It might be helpful to take a look at her notes from the session to help stimulate a discussion with your library's board. You should spell out in your policy just what is considered inappropriate and for whom. CIPA requires you to block web sites that are obscene or contain child pornography for everyone including adults. There are additional requirements for minors.

Internet Safety Policy
The Internet safety policy must address the following issues:

• Access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and World Wide Web
• The safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communications
• Unauthorized access including "hacking" and other unlawful activities by minors online
• Unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors
• Measures designed to restrict minors' access to materials harmful to minors

Once you've defined as a board what you deem "harmful to minors," Internet filters can be used to help restrict access to those materials for minors. But I think you need to be very careful and thoughtful about just what you want to restrict adults from accessing. I would recommend getting a filtering product that allows several different levels of filtering to account for different age groups. That way you can apply filters in an age appropriate manner.

As objectionable as it may be to many community members and library staff, pornography is not necessarily obscene and therefore may be constitutionally protected speech. Web sites depicting racism, sexism or violence are probably also protected by the First Amendment. Blocking these sites with a filter can subject the library to a First Amendment lawsuit. Hence, I repeat my caution to be very judicious about which categories you choose to block for adults and make sure that library staff can disable the filter at the request of an adult library patron. It's a very good idea to get a filter that lets people know that it's blocking a site and gives them the option to have the site unblocked by library staff.

Once you've come up with a draft internet policy, you can start looking at filters to meet your needs. I would certainly want to test filters before I committed my library to buying, installing and using them. This is another good place to bring in your board and/or staff to help. Install each filter you're considering on a computer and then test it for a while. Make sure it blocks sites you want blocked and doesn't block those that should be accessible. You'll probably also want to test how easy it is to turn on and off. If you don't like it, try another. This is something that library staff and patrons are going to have to live with so you want the filter to be something that works for you.

If you're filtering for CIPA compliance, make sure that discussion and approval of your Internet Use Policy is listed on the agenda for your library board meeting. This meeting must be accessible to the public. Also, keep records related to your filter purchase and testing with your E-rate files. If your library is audited for E-rate, auditors may ask to see proof that you're in compliance with CIPA.

It would be great to hear from libraries as to which filters they're using and how satisfied they are with their choices. This is another one of those areas where we can learn a lot from each others experiences.

OpenDNS filtering

Jim mentioned OpenDNS as a possible fix for the DNS vulnerability.

I've been using OpenDNS for the past several months on my laptop, but not just as an alternate domain name server but to test its filtering capabilities. Yes, OpenDNS also offers free internet filtering. Once you set up an account, you can go into Dashboard - Settings and either go with one of their pre-selected filtering levels or customize your own.I was running a fairly restrictive version for quite a while and only had it block two sites - South Park and blip.tv - both as adult themed sites. The description provided by OpenDNS warns you to only choose Adult Themes if you want to be very restrictive on your network.

One nice feature is that you get a customizable block page that tells you why the site was blocked. You can give patrons information about how to get the site unblocked. This is an important feature for 1st amendment considerations.Yesterday, I thought that as long as I was changing DNS settings for my new ISP, I might as well set my router to OpenDNS and see how the filtering works on a network. I discovered that it filters every device on my wireless network including my iPod Touch. So, how do you turn it off? You go into your dashboard and remove whatever restrictions you choose. It's pretty easy to turn on and off but because the filtering takes place at remote servers, it takes a few minutes to deactivate and reactivate the filtering. In the meantime, your entire network is unfiltered. If you're interested only in complying with CIPA for public library E-Rate purposes, and want to avoid potential problems, I'd suggest being very selective in what you choose to filter, particularly for adult patrons.

We'll be talking about this more at the E-Rate session at Fall Workshop.

internet filters

One of the recurring questions in the internet world is - how do we protect children and teens from the perceived evil lurking out there in cyberspace?

While it's a perfectly valid concern, I don't think it's qualitatively different from the larger concern of how do we keep our children safe in the world at large?

I started thinking about this again following an email exchange from a public librarian wanting to block MySpace and YouTube and an interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor - Internet filters block porn, but not savvy kids. The solution favored by many parents (and as a result schools and libraries) is to want to block everything that might possibly be a threat regardless of the positive aspects. A similar response in the real world would seem to be to lock a child in his room with no tv, radio, phone, internet, or social contact until he turns 18. Sure he'd probably be SAFE but he'd also miss out on a lot of experiences that could make him a well-rounded adult who could contribute significantly to society.

I also think that indiscriminate blocking can lead to a rebel attitude in young people. If we indiscriminately block everything that might possibly be objectionable to anyone, we're only going to encourage our creative young people to find ways around the filters. And when they do, and discover that what we're blocking is trivial, they're going to think we don't know anything. And they may well be less likely to listen to us when we try to warn them about something that's truly significant.

There's no indication that either the internet or social software is going away in the near future. So, the question becomes how do we integrate it into the educational and social lives of our children? IMO, the best way to do that is not going to be blocking it all and pretending it doesn't exist. Even if that could be successful, we'd only be sending naive adults out into the world. Rather we want to work with them to show them the pros and cons of providing information about themselves and interacting with strangers online, and how to set boundaries and behave responsibly in these new virtual environments.

And that's going to take educated parents, teachers and librarians. As I stated in a previous blog entry on March 2, internet fears are nothing new. We owe it to ourselves and our children not to remain ignorant while letting our fears get the best of us. Instead we need to take the time to explore some of the new tools and resources so we can better understand both the allure and possibilities. Only then, can we help our children make good decisions.

Check out some of the library pages on MySpace:

• Hennepin County Library
• Goshen Public Library
• Denver Public Library - they even have music!

And there are some hilarious library-related videos on YouTube, including some by our very own Queen Donna!

Another one, I like a lot is Magnum A.L. from American Libraries magazine.

BTW, there are firms making social software specifically for educational purposes.

• Elgg - from the University of Brighton. I believe this requires your own server and some knowhow to tweak the open source software but it's in use in quite a few schools (primarily universities) areound the world. FREE.
  
• Digication - created by educators in the U.S. Free for up to 1,000 users in any U.S. accredited school.

It seems to me that students graduating from schools using social software tools like these for education are going to be a lot more savvy about and able to maneuver in the web 2.0 world than those from environments where all of this is blocked.