Caveats: NONE
As far as I know there are no laws that require private schools to
filter. Federal and state governments have placed restrictions on
public schools, publicly funded libraries, and those who receive eRate
funding. But private schools can do as they wish (as long as they don't
take eRate money). Filters are still recommended, for a variety of
reasons including network security and creative legal strategies around
child endangerment. All of the content provisions of CIPA only apply to
the websites that provide the content, not the service provider (in this
case the school is the ISP).
Here is a handy summary that is kept pretty well up to date on related
laws in various states:
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/cip/filterlaws.htm
_J
_____________
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Jason Hyams
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 9:38 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Phone / Computer Convergence
Bill,
Until laws are changed to allow minors access to any type of content I
do not see schools eliminating content filters.
The two reasons I find schools using filters are CIPA compliance and
liability. Two reasons a company uses filters productivity and
liability.
Until laws are changed that remove a legal liability such as sexual
harassment (in a company) or "endangering students by exposing them to
pornographic material" (in a school) filters are required to show best
effort.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/01/substitute_teacher_fa
ces_jail.html
Jason Hyams
Director of Technology
St. Agnes Academy
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED=20
Caveats: NONE
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