Why Internet filtering by bad words is a bad idea

Like most Internet content filters our district can choose to block sites and searches on the basis of them containing "bad words" alone. And indeed, most Internet content filters allow blocking a rather uncomfortable list of words and phrases. Since I am not sure how proprietary the list from our commercial filter might be, here is a link to a generic list that contains many, if not all, of the naughty words that filters suggest be blocked.

I thought that our Internet filter by word was disabled until these tweets came to my attention:

Ouch.

A quick glimse at the first page of "bad" terms suggest probably the biggest problem with filtering by word - innocent words often have a sexual connotation only in specific contexts. Amateur. ass, bastard, bitch, cock, dick... well, you get the idea. As a result of this list you may well need to read this blog post from home instead of work.

A second problem is suggested by the Twitter exchange above. Perfectly legitimate searches which may have sexual overtones may be restricted. While there may be a prurient interest in searching on "breasts" (I suppose if you are an 8-year-old boy), there are plenty of legitimate reasons for searching on the term as well. I like to use the example of how flies is used differently in each example below:

• Time flies like an arrow.
• Fruit flies like bananas.
• She unzipped flies like there was no tomorrow.

A word's meaning often depends on its context.

A third problem is that legitimate questions about the definition of words and sex itself may be blocked. I have always thought that if a child is old enough to ask a question, she is old enough to know the answer. As a parent and grandparent, I believe my kids and grandkid are better able to survive this world having good factual knowledge than being kept in the dark. But perhaps that's just me, having learned a lot erroneous facts about sex from my fellow equally misinformed 12-year-old Boy Scout peers.

A fourth concern I have is that kids may not know the "proper" term and only know it by its more vulgar name. If one is curious to know if HIV can be transmitted via oral sex, the more likely search term many kids will use will be "blow job" rather than "fellatio."

Finally, separating kids from information about sex through blocking sex sites at school allows those kids whose families can afford home Internet access to live healthier, safer lives than those without home Internet access. That's just not right.

In the column One Big Room I wrote:

Anyone who thinks he or she can control kids' access to online information or experiences through legislation or a filter is spitting in the wind. We are not facing a simple technical challenge. We are swimming against a cultural tide.

Neil Postman explains why in his book The Disappearance of Childhood (1982). It's been a while since I have read this book, but as I remember, Postman's arguments go something like this: Childhood is a social construct. Before the Industrial Revolution, children were simply treated as small adults. They dressed like adults; they worked like adults; they lived where adults lived; and they saw what adults saw. Adults and children before the second half of the 19th century all pretty much lived in one big room.

The rise in industrialization also gave rise to the concept of "childhood." Society started treating children differently than it did adults; separating them by dress, by activity, and especially in experience. We kept kids in their own rooms with very limited access to adult rooms -- for their own safety, of course.

Postman argued that with the ubiquity of mass media (pre-Internet days), society no longer has the ability to keep children away from adult venues, sights, and experiences. We've all been pushed back into one big room, as it were. Once again, kids see and experience what adults see and experience.

For many adults this is an uncomfortable reality. And poor Internet filtering practices won't change it.

Comments

[Annette]

My favorite is when our filter blocked "Moby Dick." That was quite a while ago, though....