Internet filters. We've all dealt with them. They have them in place at work, at school, and really anywhere professionalism is required.
Seems like a great idea; "Let's block all the porn and smut and hate and games from our computers." But how effective are they?
For one thing, filters often block required or helpful websites because of a stray word or previous abuse by someone ruining it for all of the other cats. Take, for example, youtube. Anyone who actually bothers to install a filter is probably blocking youtube. But what about when you need a video to help explain a point in a presentation? How about that important video project that you uploaded because Dad won't let you take his camera to school?
Furthermore, they're not hard to beat with a little bit of savvy. I'm not going to go into the details, but you should google "proxy" if you want to know more. Most students can, and do, circumvent the school blocks all of the time.
So why install them? They're just an obstruction. Maybe if they worked like they supposed to, people wouldn't hate them, but as of now, they suck.
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I agree, in lots of situations some of the sites that the school and other places block are very useful. As i found when doing research last year for a school project, on the school computers many of the sites I needed to access were blocked because they were deemed "inappropriate" through a system which the school installed. The way that these systems block sites as a basis on words and content are what is messing up the whole system. And as you said if someone wants to access something on the internet they will find a way, it just takes some more time.
ReplyDeleteWe were actually talking about civil liberties and expression, about how technology has complicated some the whole realm. We discussed about the fact that when more technologies come out, there are more ways to fuzz up where to cross the line about expression and speech.
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