LPS Blogs - Children's Internet Protection Act

Location: Blogs Dan Maas, CIO
Posted by: Dan Maas	12/5/2007 1:44 PM
2007-2008 ETAC Chair Jim Stephens asked me to post this link for your review: http://ifea.net/cipa.pdf This was a topic of interest during our October meeting as we discussed the new filtering system in LPS. If I were to attempt to summarize CIPA (which is a risky proposition for any federal legislation), I'd write that we are required to implement policies and systems that can be reasonably expected to block student access to objectionable online content. Specifically, we must make every effort to stop obscene, hate group and violence related content. LPS has policy related to this: http://www.littletonpublicschools.net/Default.aspx?tabid=420 EGAEA, GBEE, JS, IJL, JICDA are policies that speak to our Internet and our obligations. Our filtering solution, as required by CIPA, is: 8e6 Technologies R3000

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Re: Children's Internet Protection Act

By Steven Newell on 12/6/2007 11:14 AM

Based on my professional background -- including 5 years at a network security and architecture consulting firm -- I'm impressed with the LPS filtering approach. It’s technically robust AND thoughtfully implemented to balance access to information and protection for users.

I appreciate even more how our filtering protects me personally. CIPA may be intended to protect students, but when harmful material can sneak onto computers through spyware and malware, we educators really need the protection. The case of Connecticut sub Julie Amero was a scary example. Amero was convicted on 4 counts of risk of injury to a minor after a spyware pop-up storm, on a school PC with expired antivirus and no content filtering, opened porn sites in front of students in the classroom. All she did was try to close one pop-up. Her conviction was only thrown out after a media outcry and pro-bono efforts from the professional computer security field.

Ever had a pop-up problem? Imagine a 40 year jail sentence if that happened at school. With that risk, could we blame educators if they were reluctant to use online resources in the classroom? Hardly, though it’d be a tragedy from the perspective of 21st Century learning. That’s why I say a little thank you to our ITS staff every time I face the hassle of a filter override to get a LEGO robot sumo wrestling video from YouTube. Thanks for looking out for us too.

Steven Newell
Director, Sandburg Center for the Sciences

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