Dale Alexander, the information technology director for Albuquerque public schools, was hardly a fan of filtering software designed to block pornography and Web sites deemed inappropriate for children.
But when Congress required it of schools that receive certain technology grants, Alexander had no trouble deciding whether to install the software. After all, as much as $14.7 million was at stake.
"There was a lot of money on the table," he said. And that outweighed any arguments that good adult supervision--not an imperfect filtering product--is the best solution for dealing with unsavory online content.
All across the country, schools are installing filters or expanding their use despite flaws in the software, which sometimes blocks legitimate Web sites that are needed for lessons.
For the most part, schools had to install filters by the new school year. It was an unwelcome surprise for some students and teachers.
"It has left a lot of teachers scrambling to help kids get the information they need," said Tom Henning, a high school physics teacher in San Francisco.
In one case this summer, he said, a student researching race tracks for a paper found resources on them blocked as gambling sites.
In Albuquerque, the swim team couldn't access sites about swimsuits.
The federal Children's Internet Protection Act also requires filtering software in libraries, but that provision is on hold after a federal court in Philadelphia struck it down as violating 1st Amendment guarantees. An appeal is pending.
The requirement for schools--including their libraries--was never challenged, partly because schools typically have greater leeway in restricting student conduct.
While the law covers only sexually oriented materials, many districts are using the same filters to voluntarily block sites that feature games, shopping and violence.
The filtering software forced Tim Kajstura, a senior at Ossining High School in Ossining, N.Y., to choose a new senior project because a site for Red Hat Inc., a software company he was going to profile, mysteriously got blocked.
"About half the sites I try to access for research on any given topic are blocked, many of them the most useful," he said. "What's the use of technology if we can't use it?"
The law affects some technology grants from the Education Department and the popular e-rate subsidies that are funded through telephone surcharges.
