The WiscNet Filtering Policy

Filtering's Challenges

Given the cultural, economic and psychological incentives that compel people to offer illicit content and to modify software to defeat filtering measures, WiscNet cannot offer a simple, perfect, plug-and-play content filtering solution.
We do not expect to offer such a solution in the foreseeable future. We do provide a proven, well-engineered "technological protection measure" that focuses the best efforts of many people to responsibly address content filtering.
As such, our filtering service will help our members comply with filtering's newest challenge: the federal Children's Internet Protection Act and its requirement that to receive E-Rate subsidy funding, schools and libraries must filter Internet content.

Filtering Is a Service and a Process

Internet content filtering requires ongoing vigilance and mutual effort by staff in our member organizations and at WiscNet. To guide this effort, this document sets out a policy for WiscNet staff and recommendations to our members.
This mutual process only just begins when a member installs our filtering service. No content filtering service, including ours, acts as magical filtering dust: all require our time, expertise and flexibility to deal with the significant, ongoing challenges that filtering tries to address. To achieve effective Internet content filtering for WiscNet members, we all must perform our roles in a dynamic, difficult process.

Mutual Roles and Responsibilities

It is our policy that WiscNet staff will:

1. Operate a filtering service that permits our members to comply with local community standards and certify compliance with applicable State and Federal law.
2. Provide our members with the means to control filtering locally (e.g., select blocked content categories; add website to blocking database).
3. Aid with interfacing the filtering service to members' networks and services.
4. Use a current, authoritative database of blocked sites and services.
5. Respond efficiently to our members' detection of inappropriate sites and services
6. Educate our members about the challenges that content filtering entails.

To effectively use our filtering service, we recommend that the responsible staff at our member sites:

1. Supervise students' access to filtered computers.
2. Disseminate widely and enforce rigorously an Appropriate Use Policy for faculty, staff, students and patrons.
3. Guard filtered computers and network resources against inappropriate compromise of filtering measures (e.g., workstation logging; regular audits).
4. Educate officials, parents, patrons and other stakeholders about the challenges that content filtering entails.

Issue Date: 04/30/01