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Temple University Center for Research
in Human Development and Education |
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Complying with the
Children's Internet Protection Act
110
by
Patricia Hendricks
Temple University
The E-Rate program, funded by the Federal Communications
Commission, has provided Internet access to America's most disadvantaged urban
and rural schools and libraries for the past five years. These
telecommunications discounts allow under-resourced districts to design and
employ network infrastructures and free up educational technology resources
while obligating the districts to develop sound educational technology plans.
Although E-Rate has provided much needed access to equipment and services, it
has also taxed schools' and libraries' administrative resources (Benton
Foundation, 2001). Recent legislation, specifically The Children's Internet
Protection Act (CIPA), which became effective on April 20, 2001, sets additional
hurdles for school and library administrators. During the 2001-2002 school year,
most schools and libraries receiving universal service discounts are required to
undertake actions toward compliance with CIPA. Schools and library
administrators have one year to investigate, explore, and build compliance
strategies (for more information, see Federal Communications Commission, 2001).
While some of the major educational issues involved in CIPA compliance are
raised here, this document should not be construed as legal advice.
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Complying with CIPA requires multiple layers of coordination
within a school district. Superintendents, technology
coordinators, district program officers, principals, and
teachers all have a role in safeguarding students in digital
schools. However, many administrators may not understand the
complex issues and potential problems of some compliance
strategies.
CIPA contains four major requirements. Schools and libraries
must certify that they:
1) monitor students' use of the Internet;
2) install filtering or blocking technology to "protect
against Internet access to visual depictions that are
obscene, child pornography, or (in the case of use by
minors) harmful to minors" (Universal Service Administrative
Company, Schools and Libraries, 2001, 2);
3) develop an Internet safety plan that covers students'
safety, security, access to inappropriate material, hacking,
and privacy; and
4) hold a public meeting on the hearing (Federal
Communications Commission Consumer Facts, 2001).
Monitoring Students' Internet Use
The phrase "monitoring students use" is left undefined in
the FCC regulations and in the CIPA statute. Most school
districts respond to these requirements by installing
filtering programs. It should be noted, however, that E-Rate
funds may not be used to pay for filtering software. Nor
should it be construed that filtering software can represent
a complete answer to the problems of inappropriate
materials. Monitoring can be done in many different ways,
including direct supervision, periodic reviews of Internet
usage logs, and electronic monitoring technologies. For
instance, a district may adopt a policy that allows teachers
or paraprofessionals to supervise students' use of
computers. Their policy may require that a system
administrator analyze and report Internet communication
traffic. Or, the district might use electronic monitoring
products such as e-sniff to monitor and alert system
administrators to inappropriate use of TCP/IP (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) traffic including web
hits, e-mail, instant messaging, chat, and print jobs. Many
districts use a combination of supervising, reviewing, and
electronic monitoring.
Effective supervising requires flexible district policies,
professional development and training for teachers, and
proper physical placement of the computers. Flexible
policies allow for different levels of supervision in
different ages of students and accommodate different
educational settings (e.g., labs vs. classrooms, after
school programs vs. school time activities). Professional
development and training for teachers is key to successful
monitoring practice. Districts need to educate teachers of
their responsibility and potential liability and provide
them with effective monitoring strategies. District
administrators also need to consider physical placement of
computers in the classroom so that teachers and supervisors
can easily view students' workstations and physically reach
students if they need to discuss computer activity..
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