Last December, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-554)—a vaguely titled and unheralded piece of legislation with major implications for schools. Although the legislation did not mandate any specific actions for schools, two of its components—the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act (NCIPA)—affect school districts' eligibility for federal funds from such programs as the E-rate discount.
O World, the Slippery Turns: CIPA and NCIPA
The Children's Internet Protection Act and the Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act are both designed to protect minors from obscene, pornographic (particularly child pornography), or harmful materials available on the Internet by ensuring that appropriate policies and blocking software are in place. The legislation targets visual depictions rather than text, and it defines "minor" as anyone under the age of 17. Moreover, the legislation outlines criteria for what must be blocked.
- 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 conduct, 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 to minors.
The legislation also refers to the federal child pornography statute, which defines child pornography as "any visual depiction" of a minor under 18 years old engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including "actual or simulated" sexual intercourse, bestiality, masturbation, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic areas" (Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977).
CIPA requires school districts that receive funding from specified federal sources to use a software-based Internet filtering system to block harmful visual depictions and to adopt and implement an Internet-use policy. NCIPA affects only those districts receiving funds from the E-rate discount program, a federal program that provides affordable Internet connections to schools and libraries. NCIPA also requires school districts to allow all groups of education stakeholders—such as community groups and parents—to participate in creating the Internet-use policy. School districts that are in compliance with CIPA will be in compliance with NCIPA if they have allowed the public to comment on the district Internet safety policy during the process of creating it.
Fill Thy Purse with Money: The Funding
- E-rate discounts for Internet access and service or internal network connections;
- Funds from Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that are used to purchase computers to gain access to the Internet or to pay the direct costs associated with accessing the Internet; and
- State-administered monies from the Library Service and Technology Act that fund access to the Internet.
School districts must comply with CIPA or NCIPA if they receive—either directly or indirectly—funds from any of these sources. In addition, school districts are responsible for complying with CIPA and NCIPA if they receive money from an intermediary agency that is administering affected funds, such as a board of cooperative educational services (BOCES), an intermediate unit, or a state department of education.
Truth Will Come to Light: Filtering Software
Both CIPA and NCIPA require school districts to install Internet filtering software on any computers that are used by students to gain access to the Internet. Many commercial packages, mostly created by for-profit companies, are designed for the K–12 environment.
Filtering software selects what to filter in two ways: keyword blocking and site blocking. For keyword blocking, the software producers create a list of words and character strings commonly used to describe offensive or illegal information. Examples include curse words, slang words that refer to genitals, terms associated with drugs, and characters strings such as "XXX." The software then prevents a user from viewing a page that contains any of the keywords or character strings on the list.
Site blocking takes place when a software producer enters the Web address—or universal resource locator (URL)—of objectionable sites into the filtering software. Examples include www.playboy.com and www.hustler.com. Once installed, the software blocks a user from an address that is in the site database.
On a practical level, lawmakers and computer experts both realize that no filter product is 100 percent reliable in blocking everything deemed objectionable—and that opinions on what is objectionable vary. For example, the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling were the most challenged resource in U.S. schools last year (American Library Association, 2001). Yet, thousands of schools find these books acceptable and are using them in classrooms and libraries.
When searching for a filtering software package, school districts should evaluate how much control the district wants to have in deciding what to block. Sophisticated programs, such as Bess (www.n2h2.com) and CyberPatrol (www.cyberpatrol.com), allow educators to choose the keywords, character strings, and Web sites that the software blocks. Other programs have a preset database of keywords or Web sites.
Educators do have the authority to provide access to the information that the filtering software blocks. But in a district that receives E-rate discounts, the filtering software may be disabled only for "legal use by an adult." For all other districts, the filtering software may be disabled for users of any age for "bona fide research or other lawful purpose." Although the legislation does not define bona fide research or lawful purpose, educators should feel comfortable allowing their students to look at filtered information that supports the curriculum of the school.
Wild and Whirling Words: Internet Safety Policies
- Access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet and World Wide Web;
- Safety and security of minors when using e-mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communication;
- Unauthorized access, including so-called hacking, and other unlawful activities by minors online;
- Unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal identification information regarding minors; and
- Measures designed to restrict minors' access to materials harmful to them.
NCIPA includes the additional requirement that districts provide "reasonable public notice" and "hold at least one public hearing or meeting" to address the proposed policy.
All's Well That Ends Well: Where to Go for Help
To ensure that school districts are complying with CIPA and NCIPA, districts must file certification documents each year. Districts that receive E-rate discounts must send the certification materials to the Federal Com-munications Commission; districts that receive Title III funds but not E-rate discounts should file with the U.S. Department of Education (www.ed.gov); all other affected districts should send their certification materials to the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (www.imls.gov).
For more information on CIPA and NCIPA or to download the required certification materials, visit the Federal Communications Commission Web site (www.fcc.gov) or telephone them at 800-225-5322.
