Access Denied: How Internet Filters Impact Student Learning in H ...

act by the government to limit free speech. Jost (2001) and Pownell and Bailey (1999) present even-handed analyses of the advantages and disadvantages of filters in school libraries. They reason that the reduced chances of a student accessing “inappropriate” material must be balanced against the knowledge that any kind of commercial filter will almost certainly block appropriate material, with a corresponding risk of violating the student’s First Amendment rights. On the other end of the political spectrum, free speech advocates (Callister and Burbules, 2003; Kranich, 2004; Willard, 2003) are very open in labeling filters as over-protective and damaging in the long run.

There are indications that technologically savvy students are becoming increasingly frustrated with limitations on their Internet access in schools. Levin and Arafeh (2002) used qualitative methods to describe the attitudes and behaviors of students using the Internet in public schools. One finding from their study says that “while many students recognize the need and a desire to shelter teenagers from inappropriate material and adult-oriented commercial ads, they complain that blocking and filtering software raise significant barriers to their legitimate educational use of the Internet” (p. 19). A research question in the study will examine what sorts of barriers students encounter using filtered computers and how they try to overcome them.

Because of the legal controversies surrounding the Children’s Internet Protection Act in recent years, the literature has been filled with various kinds of studies and opinion pieces on the effectiveness of filters. The Kaiser study (Richardson, et al., 2002) demonstrates the difference that filter settings make in the amount of harmless material that is blocked through the use of filters. The study was particularly notable for having been published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). Given their medical backgrounds, the authors focused on adolescents’ use of the Internet for health concerns. The objective of the study was to measure how much pornography-blocking software used in schools and libraries limits access to health information Web sites. They write: