Cyberporn flap REDUX

Charles A. Summerhill casummerhill at librarylrc.uams.edu
Tue May 27 18:49:21 EDT 1997


Jerry Kuntz wrote:

> [deleted text]
> lingerie, engaged in a sexual act." So the issue here isn't personal
> choice or parental responsibility; it's the unsolicited presentation
> due
> to the browser's session history tracking.
> Is there a technical mechanism to avoid this, short of filtering?

First of all, let it be known that we don't practice filtering here --
an Academic Health Sciences center with terminals reserved solely for
currently enrolled medical students.

Having said that: Netscape and Internet access in general is just one of
many choices available from a menu and is explictly started for each
individuals session (this requires a menu/security program with time-out
features, I recommend WinU from http://www.bardon.com/). When Netscape
is launched (32-bit version 3.01 under Windows95) I have a program that
first deletes the Global History (NETSCAPE.HST) file; cookie files; the
CACHE, MAIL, NEWS and SECURITY directories; lock the BOOKMARK.HTM file
and then replace the Netscape Registry keys with a fresh copy with
standard settings intact. This is primarily for security, privacy and
common sense purposes. I started doing this when students would use
Netscape to access their VAX e-mail accounts and leave their mail login
information in the Preferences. I also do it for general clean-up of the
CACHE (which can become corrupted and subsequently crash Netscape.

Not a perfect answer, but should do most of what you are looking for. If
you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to write.

--
  Charles A. Summerhill
  Network Manager
  Library Learning Resource Center
  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  http://www.librarylrc.uams.edu/wwwoot/



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