By Lars Kongshem

There was much debate but little consensus on the issue of children's online safety at a White House-endorsed Internet summit held in Washington, D.C., in early December.

Planned in the wake of the Communications Decency Act's demise at the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court last June, the "Internet Online Summit: Focus on Children" was widely seen as an effort by the online industry to showcase its willingness to regulate itself. Seeking to head off any further attempts at government-imposed censorship, online industry groups -- including summit hosts AT&T, America Online, Microsoft, the Walt Disney Company, and Time Warner -- used the forum to promote Internet filtering software and rating systems.

Industry leaders are hoping the availability of software tools that let parents and schools safeguard kids from inappropriate content will persuade policy makers that additional legislation is unnecessary. (Last November, Indiana Republican Senator Dan Coats introduced a bill that would require web sites to ensure that material deemed "harmful to minors" is made available only to adults.)

Under fire

Yet even before it began, the meeting drew criticism from both sides of the ideological spectrum. Several conservative interest groups, including the Family Research Council, withdrew their support, calling the meeting an Internet "love fest," while free-speech advocates quickly labeled the gathering a "censorware summit."

Kicking off the meeting, Vice President Al Gore pointed out that 10 million children already have access to the Internet -- 4 million of them through schools. "How do we keep children safe while protecting the First Amendment?" Gore asked summit participants. "We must meet this 21st century challenge in a 21st century way. The Internet will never be a fixture in every home until parents have the tools to make it safe."

But civil and cyber-liberties groups present at the meeting took pains to point out that the filters and ratings schemes touted by the online industry rarely work as advertised and often go too far. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) used the occasion of the summit to release a report showing that one "family-friendly" Internet search engine, Net Shepherd, filtered out vast quantities of useful and appropriate information, including web pages at sites run by the American Red Cross, the Child Welfare League of America, UNICEF, United Way, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

The service even filtered out many public schools' home pages, said EPIC legal counsel David Sobel: "Kids put their heart and soul into a web site, and suddenly they're invisible."

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation weighed in with its own report, which showed that the majority of filtering software on the market blocks informational and support sites serving the gay and lesbian community, making no distinction between these and sexually explicit sites.

"We do not oppose these tools provided they are transparent, [but] the fact is that most of the industry refuses to say what's blocked and why," said Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union. (See Censorware, Electronic School, January 1998.)

What's more, free-speech advocates warned, widespread use of content filters and Internet ratings may pose an even greater threat to online freedom of speech than government regulation. If widely adopted by the industry, filtering software and rating systems -- which face no First Amendment constraints -- could render controversial and non-mainstream speech practically invisible online, they said.

Sparks flew during a panel discussion when Steinhardt warned against a "mad, headlong, and mostly uncritical rush to embrace content blocking, filtering, and rating." Steinhardt denounced ratings as a "regime of private censorship" that will stifle the voices of unpopular opinions on the web, and he predicted that the marketplace will coalesce around a single rating system that seeks to offend no-one. Technically speaking, several ratings schemes reflecting a variety of value systems can coexist, but many industry observers say the expense and effort required makes this unlikely.

"The dominant ratings system will be built into software by default," Steinhardt said, adding that this will encourage lawmakers to mandate the rating of sites and make it a crime to misrate a site. "Rather than discouraging Congress from acting, these rating systems are providing a road map to Congress for a censorship-ready Internet."

In response, Jerry Berman, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, argued that filters and ratings systems are the only real alternative to draconian legislation. Besides, he said, parents and schools can't supervise children 24 hours a day. "[Constant supervision] is not an option for the American people. People want a simple solution." However, a survey released by Family PC magazine at the summit showed that only 4 percent of parents surveyed had bought and installed filtering software.

Having retreated from its previous support of the Communications Decency Act, the White House now backs the industry-led efforts to promote the use of filtering and rating software, and Gore underscored this position at the summit.

"Blocking your own child's access to offensive speech is not censorship -- it's parenting," Gore told the audience, which responded with loud applause. But as Joan Bertin of the National Coalition Against Censorship later pointed out during a panel discussion, although the use of filters "is not a First Amendment issue in the home, whose values will prevail at the school, library, or community level?" Indeed, "the greatest risk of private-sector filters is that they will become public-sector filters," added First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams.

But many panelists defended the use of filters. "They don't put Deep Throat on the shelf in libraries," said Bruce Taylor of the National Law Center. If filters block too much, he argued, vendors should improve them so that they "only block what you want."

The best filter

For all the talk of technology at the summit, many participants sought to stress that education will always be the most effective filter.

"It's not what you do for your children that matters; it's what you teach them to do for themselves," said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, quoting newspaper columnist Ann Landers. "We need to help students learn to separate good from bad."

This sentiment was echoed by many throughout the summit. "Software does nothing to prevent kids' access to their own bad judgment," said Larry Magid, a cyber columnist with the Los Angeles Times. "The key tool is not going to be embedded in software, but in the minds of children. If you can teach kids how to protect themselves, that's much better than any software tool." Or as NetDay founder Michael Kaufman told Electronic School during a break in the proceedings, "It's the software between the ears that counts."

To that end, summit sponsors announced a variety of efforts aimed at educating kids and parents about Internet safety, including a national public education campaign with the slogan "Think, Then Link." The campaign will combine public service announcements with teach-ins held in schools, libraries, and community centers nationwide this fall.

To help parents make sense of the online world, the U.S. Department of Education has published a Parents' Guide to the Internet in print and online. Similarly, the Children's Partnership has released The Parents' Guide to the Information Superhighway.

And to assist parents and educators in locating appropriate online resources for children, the American Library Association has created an online guide to over 700 Great Sites on the web. AT&T also announced the availability of a technology inventory of Internet filtering and rating products and services.

Gore also unveiled a CyberTipline, sponsored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which will serve as a national resource for tips and leads regarding child exploitation in cyberspace. The tip line can also be reached by calling (800) 843-5678.

Lars Kongshem is an associate editor and webmaster of Electronic School and The American School Board Journal.