Internet filtering in schools

[Jenne Heise, Web Herder]

Question for the list relating to internet filtering in schools.

Many schools have policies about material and dress relating to 'witchcraft'
and 'Satanism'.

At least some filtering programs have a switch to filter 'Satanism' and
'witchcraft' materials.

How would librarians feel about a school who applied their anti-witchcraft
rule to turning on the filter switch for 'witchcraft', thus blocking access to
'witchcraft' sites?

What if one of the families in that district was neopagan and their child
wanted to research a religious topic using the Internet?

(Exercise for the advanced student: compare the holdings of your library
under 'Satanism' and 'witchcraft' and what comes up on the Internet for these
terms. Which has a higher proportion of material on 'black magic' and which
has more 'happy flowers and meditation' stuff? Would the library books or the
net sites appeal more to the black-fingernails teen crowd? *grin*)
Jennifer Heise,                             Net: jahb at lehigh.edu    \
Senior Specialist, Web Management, Lehigh Univ. Info. Resources   / /
My opinions are my own. No one else would HAVE them anyway.       \

"Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a
tolerance for stupidity, and bulldozer when necessary." -- Anonymous