Larry Magid: Rating the Internet filtering programs

[David Goldstein <goldstein_david@yahoo.com.au>]

Larry Magid: Rating the Internet filtering programs
BY LARRY MAGID
Special to the Mercury News 
An article in the March issue of Consumer Reports questions whether
Internet filtering programs like Net Nanny, Internet Guard Dog, Cyber
Patrol and others are effective ways to protect your children from
inappropriate material.

(You can read it yourself at
www.consumerreports.org/Special/ConsumerInterest/Reports/0103fil0.html.)

Consumer Reports pitted several filters against ``a list of 86 easily
located Web sites that contain sexually explicit content or violently
graphic images, or that promote drugs, tobacco, crime, or bigotry.''
The results of the tests were rather startling. Cyber Patrol,
according to the magazine, ``failed to block 23 percent of
objectionable sites.'' Cybersitter 2000 failed 22 percent of the
time. Cyber Snoop failed 90 percent of the time. Internet Guard Dog
failed in 30 percent of the cases while Net Nanny failed to block 52
percent of the objectionable sites. Norton Internet Security 2001 had
a 20 percent failure rating.

The most successful filtering option, according to the magazine, is
the AOL ``young teen'' parental control which failed 14 percent of
the time. AOL's ``mature teen'' filter was deemed to have a 30
percent failure rating.

I didn't conduct the same tests as Consumer Reports but, frankly, I
find the results a bit surprising. A couple of years ago I checked
out all the major Internet filtering programs in preparation for
testimony in the American Civil Liberties Union's successful
challenge to the Children's Online Protection Act of 1998. The ACLU
contended, and the court agreed, that filtering programs, in
conjunction with parental supervision, represent a reasonable level
of parental control, thus making it unnecessary for the government to
regulate content on the Internet. The judge's decision was based in
part on my testimony, which stated that filtering, though far from
perfect, blocked the vast majority of sites.

 See
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/lm022501.htm
for the full story.

=====
David Goldstein
2/3 Belmont Ave, Glen Iris 3146, Australia
email: Goldstein_David@yahoo.com.au
phone: +61 3 9885 0601 (home)
       +61 418 228 605 (mobile)

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