Brandon Hall
CSC 540
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The US Government first attempted to filter the
Internet in the early 90’s.
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This was an attempt to protect minors against the
sexually explicit material on the internet.
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The US Government had a hard time coming up
with a law that wouldn’t get struck down as
unconstitutional due to the First Amendment.
Based on a study conducted by Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop.
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CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act)
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CDA (Communications Decency Act)
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COPA (Child Online Protection Act)
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Signed into law in 1996.
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This Act was the first attempt by US
Congress to regulate both indecency and
obscenity on the Internet.
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Portions of this act was declared
unconstitutional in 1997 with the case of
Reno V. ACLU.
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Supreme Court found that the “Indecency”
portion of the act was unconstitutional.
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Justice John Paul Stevens stated that "the
CDA places an unacceptably heavy burden on
protected speech“
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"safe harbor" section protecting ISPs from
being liable for the words of others, was not
affected by this decision and remains law.
Drafted in 1998.
This act attempted to restrict to any material defined
as harmful to such minors on the Internet.
 COPA required all commercial distributors of
"material harmful to minors" to restrict their sites
from access by minors.
 "Material harmful to minors" was defined as material
that by "contemporary community standards" was
judged to appeal to the "prurient interest" and that
showed sexual acts or nudity.
 The act was never signed into law, and a permanent
injunction was granted in 2009.
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In 1999 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals
quickly struck down this law as
unconstitutional.
They stated that act was too broad in using
"community standards" as part of the
definition of harmful materials.
However in 2002 the Supreme Court
Reviewed the case and sent it back to the
Third Circuit.
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In 2003 the Third Circuit struck down the law
again as unconstitutional this time stating
that it would hinder protected speech among
adults.
In 2004 the case of in Ashcroft v. American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) the Supreme
court upheld the injunction.
Finally in 2007 US District Judge Lowell A.
Reed, Jr. Stated that the act violated first
amendment and fifth amendment rights.
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Signed into law in 2000.
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Found to be constitutional by the Supreme
court in 2003.
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This act targeted schools and libraries.
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Adopt an internet safety policy.
The use of internet filters and blocking
software for images that may be considered
obscene or harmful to minors.
Allow the filter to be disable for use by
Adults.
Enforce monitoring the use of the internet by
minors.
Miller V. California (1973)
whether the average person, applying contemporary
community standards (not national standards, as
some prior tests required), would find that the work,
taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
 whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently
offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory
functions specifically defined by applicable state law;
 whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks
serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
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(Miller V. California)
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Harmful to minors was defined in the act itself.
Harmful minors was defined as Any picture, image,
graphic image file, or other visual depiction that
taken as a whole and with respect to minors, appeals
to a prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion;
depicts, describes, or represents, in a patently
offensive way with respect to what is suitable for
minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual
contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted
sexual acts, or a lewd exhibition of the genitals; and
taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic,
political, or scientific value as to minors” (CIPA)
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Client side filters
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Browser based filters
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Content – limited ISP filters
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Server side filters
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Search engine filters
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Client Side filters are installed as software,
and need to be installed on each computer.
Client Side filters can be customized using a
username and password.
Server Side filters are the most common type
of filters for schools and libraries.
These type of filters are installed on a server,
and are the same for all computers on that
server.
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Content – limited ISP filters can limit the
users interaction to other users with the same
kind of filters. This filter is implemented by
the ISP.
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Browser Based filters – Google Chrome does
not offer browser based filters.
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Over filtering is the main issue with filtering
software. They filter key words, so searches
like “Breast Cancer”, “Summa Cum Laude”
don’t make it through the filters.
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These filters will also block an entire site
based on sexuality, even if only a page on the
site has this material.
What are the consequences if a school or library
doesn’t remain CIPA compliant?
 They can lose their E-Rate Funding and other
government funding.
 The E-Rate program provides discounts to public K-12
schools and libraries purchasing telecommunications
services, Internet access, Internet connections and
basic maintenance of internal connections.
 Can lose federal education funding to schools for
purchase of computers used to access the Internet, or
to pay for direct costs associated with accessing the
Internet.
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(n.d.). Retrieved from FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act
(n.d.). Retrieved from Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wpdyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A22519-2003Jun23&notFound=true
(n.d.). Retrieved from Library Student Journal:
http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/view/25/17
(n.d.). Retrieved from ENotes: http://www.enotes.com/internet-reference/internet-filtersschools-and-libraries
(n.d.). Retrieved from Net Safe Kids: http://www.nap.edu/netsafekids/pro_fm_filter.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from 2-power: http://www.2-power-n.com/doc/search-engine-filter.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from Department of information resources:
http://www2.dir.state.tx.us/ict/resources/Pages/eratefunding.aspx
(n.d.). Retrieved from E-Rate Central: http://www.e-ratecentral.com/CIPA/cipa_policy_primer.pdf
(n.d.). Retrieved from Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5781878/four-out-of-five-of-toddlers-usethe-internet
CDA. (n.d.). Retrieved from WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decency_Act
CIPA. (n.d.). Retrieved from WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Internet_Protection_Act
Content Control. (n.d.). Retrieved from WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contentcontrol_software
COPA. (n.d.). Retrieved from WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Online_Protection_Act
Hitchcock, L. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.isu.edu/library/friends/foolscap.pdf
Info People. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://infopeople.org/resources/filtering/
Miller V. California. (n.d.). Retrieved from WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_v._California