School internet filters

Surprisingly little has been written about school internet filters since the passage of the Children's Internet Protection Act a few years ago. It seems hard to find not only reviews of different filtering options, but I also can't find much about the philosophy of what to filter, either.

Can you point me to resources about filters? Can you tell me horror or success stories about your experience with school internet filters?

Our division uses a one-size-for-all filter under the SmartFilter brand. Do your schools offer different levels of filtering for students and teachers?

I am interested to hear your thoughts, and may use them on my blog as I dig into the issue there: http://globalvirtual.blogspot.com

Tags: filter

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Permalink Reply by Steve Maher on September 14, 2007 at 6:36am

I remember spouting off about this issue last school year. For what its worth, you can read it at my blog.

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Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on September 14, 2007 at 10:30pm

Check out the links here: http://movingforward.wikispaces.com/Changing+Policy

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Permalink Reply by Marty Caise on January 7, 2009 at 12:12pm

This is a response to an old entry, but I can give you some info on filtering solutions.

When you consider filtering consider the following factors - these are IMPORTANT.

1. Your Budget which always seems to be one of the biggest determining factors. Of course if you are considering e-Rate as a potential funding source you will have to look at solutions that meet the CIPA requirements.

2. Your internet user base. this will help you determine whether a filtering solution needs to be purchased or if an internal workstation solution can be used to satisfy the CIPA requirement. In some cases, server side filter solutions are not cost effective and browser solutions like KIDZUI can be used to perform the same type of protection.

3. Your Instructional and Technology plans. Make sure you take this into consideration. If your plan does not call for high volume internet usage, then look at solutions that fit the plan - this can save you financially. Work with filtering companies who are willing to use your facility as a free pilot. This will address your filtering needs and give you an opportunity to see the solution first hand.

4. Work with your technical support team. I think this is VITAL, but as an IT professional, my opinion is somewhat biased. This is important, communicate with this group. Let them know what you are looking at. Verify the group is not already looking at a solution. Work with the group so your instructional plan is not affected by a rigid filtering plan. This is a challenge from both ends. Instructors want a flexible filter because of educational value of some "home grown" sites while IT Support wants a more rigid filter plan to prevent malware, spyware and viruses from entering the network.

5. Communicate with your parents about the advantages and disadvantages of Internet filtering. This group is also an important one. I would recommend the communication be done in several ways. First, revise and remind them of your school/ district's AUP (Acceptable Use Policy). If you have one, REVIEW IT. If you don't GET ONE and share it with your administrators and legal teams if necessary. Other schools and school districts have them posted on their sites. Second, once the AUP has been sent out inform them of how filtering works and explain that the goal is the continued support of instruction and the overall protection of their children. If you get buy-in from them you can probably also obtain funding. Third, would be continued communication with the parents on how the filtering discussion/ project is progressing and what you have found. Some may find this a bit too technical so this communication should be somewhat short and to the point (perhaps in the school newspaper).

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There are some very good filters out there. BlueCoat, iPrism, IronPort, eSafe are just a few that I have seen. While they are designed around a large userbase, they do have features which provides instant solutions with minimal management out of the box. Good Luck.

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Permalink Reply by Evaggelos on January 11, 2009 at 7:15pm

In my district we use a completely different model. We have two groups of users: students and staff. The students can only go to approved sites only. The staff has the freedom to go to many sites except the typical "bad" sites. For the student access list we rely on teachers' input. We buy a lot of databases that students can use.

All uses log in using a unique ID and password. We use squid, a web proxy, to restrict access. I could ask our network analyst for details if anyone is interested.

Evan